The Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS) is a German

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

extremism monitoring agency established in 2021. Its stated focus is on creating an early warning system against conspiracy ideologies,

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the ...

and

far-right extremism Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

Overview

The Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy was established in March 2021 by political

data scientist Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a bro ...

Josef Holnburger and social psychologist

Pia Lamberty Pia Lamberty (born 11 February 1984) is a German social psychologist who researches conspiracy ideologies. She is a co-founder and co-CEO of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS). Early life and career Lamberty was born ...

, with the intent of developing an early warning system against conspiracy ideologies, disinformation and far-right extremism. The other founding members are senior researchers Miro Dittrich and Jan Rathje, and cognitive scientist Rocío Rocha Dietz. It is based in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

and is funded by the , which provided the organization with €2.8 million. The organization tracks far-right activity on

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

. During the

2021 German federal election Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not ...

, CeMAS found that false claims of voter fraud had become commonplace on Telegram in Germany, with accusations against

Dominion Voting Systems Dominion Voting Systems Corporation is a company that sells electronic voting hardware and software, including voting machines and tabulators, in the United States and Canada. The company's headquarters are in Toronto, Ontario, and Denver, Colo ...

being common despite the company's technology not being used in German elections. Dittrich said, "We have seen far-right actors try to claim election fraud since at least 2016, but it didn't take off. When

Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

started telling the '

big lie A big lie (german: große Lüge) is a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the truth, used especially as a propaganda technique. The German expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his book '' Mein Kampf'' (1925), to descr ...

,' it became a big issue in Germany, sometimes bigger than the pandemic, because far-right groups and the AfD are carefully monitoring the success Trump is having with this narrative."

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://cemas.io 2021 establishments in Germany Think tanks based in Germany