Debunked: Videos showing ballots being shredded after German election were fake

VIDEOS APPARENTLY SHOWING shredded ballots from the recent German election have circulated on social media, alongside claims that they are evidence that there were efforts to “rig” the vote for parties other than the far-right AFD party.

In one video posted on Facebook on 20 February, two hands pick up ballots, open an envelope, and read out the name of the candidate who is being voted for.

A person then goes to destroy the ballot in a shredder to the side, and continues to open up light-red envelopes containing other ballots. 

However, this video do not show what they purport to show. According to Hamburg election officials, videos like this and others like it that were shared online contain several identifying features that show that the ballots are not real, electoral ballots from the February poll. 

The State Election Office issued a statement on 20 February to address the misinformation. 

“A video is currently circulating on social networks that supposedly shows how postal voting envelopes for the 2025 federal election are opened and ballot papers for a specific party are selectively destroyed using a shredder,” the office said. “In this context, the Hamburg state election officer points out that the documents shown in the video are forgeries. State security at the State Criminal Police Office has begun investigations.”

Alleged shredding of ballots: still from Facebook Video Facebook Facebook

The envelopes in one video, shared to Facebook, have rounded edges, and adhere in three points on the envelope; however, official German election envelopes have flaps that are straight across the envelope, and adhere straight across the envelope. 

The ballots in the video had several details which were not consistent with the original ballots Facebook Facebook

In addition, the original, official documents are a different red colour, have different labelling and don’t have a faulty flap at the front.

Hamburg election officials have also said that State security at the State Criminal Police Office has begun investigations into the fraudulent videos and alleged ballot shredding.

The issue was first reported by Der-Spiegel, who say that both city officials and security agencies have debunked the videos. Their reporting also suggests that there are Russian links behind these videos as part of efforts to undermine the legitimacy of democratic elections. 

Germany held their elections on 23 February but postal votes were collected earlier.

An exit poll released as polls closed suggests that the conservative Christian Democrats finished with the majority of the vote at 29%, the far-right AFD on 19.5% and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) on 16%.

AFD’s result is a record for a far-right party in the country since the 1930s; although it’s unlikely the party will get into government, they are set to become the largest opposition party.

German State Election Officer Oliver Rudolf said: “Videos like this are a perfidious attempt to delegitimise our democratic and free elections. In this case, we were able to quickly and clearly determine that it was a fake. We therefore call on people to critically examine such videos and not to spread them any further.”

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