Fake News Spread Abroad About Switzerland Is A Liability

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) False claims about Swiss neutrality are circulating internationally. Switzerland needs to do more to ensure that other countries do not have a false image of the country. This content was published on September 5, 2025 - 09:00 14 minutes

As a reporter I cover developments in democracy where the Swiss perspective becomes relevant. I am Swiss and have long been fascinated by the way public discussions shape society.

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Is Switzerland still neutral? People ask Google this question, or a similar one, some 14,000 times a month – outside Switzerland and in English.

In a trial search, an English-language article from Turkish state mediaExternal link shows up quite high on the list.“Why Switzerland is breaking away from 500-year-old neutrality,” says the headline. Although the text itself is more nuanced, the headline sets the wrong tone and skews the readers' interpretation. And as journalists know, far more people read the headline than the actual article.

Disinformation from Russian propaganda channels

There are various reasons why people abroad may be asking Google about Swiss neutrality. One is that foreign players – in particular Russian propaganda channels – are spreading misinformation on the issue.

It is important that people who take the trouble to research Swiss neutrality have access to reliable and accurate information. Anyone who claims that Switzerland is no longer neutral is assuming that Switzerland has picked a side. And anyone who has taken sides can be viewed with hostility.

It is therefore in Switzerland's interest to ensure that its neutrality, which has been the guiding principle of its foreign policy since 1815, is correctly communicated to the international public.

Not all false content is disinformation. Disinformation refers to misleading or false information that is spread with malicious intent.

In democracies, as British espionage expert Rory Cormac put it, disinformation targets social fault lines. It latches onto strongly charged issues on which people have clear opposing positions.

The most famous example of disinformation in Switzerland occurred in autumn 2022, when a fake poster on social media called on people to report neighbours who overheated their homes to the authorities. This fake poster sought to stir up fears of an energy crisis and an increasingly authoritarian state. But it also targeted the existing divide over whether the adoption of sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine would harm Swiss prosperity. The poster was a well-crafted fake – not least because the supposed informant hotline was a real Swiss government telephone number.

The fake was quickly exposed and widely reported as such by the media. However, people who have already lost trust in the media may well continue to harbour doubts about this portrayal.

Differing views on resilience

Within Switzerland, views differ on just how resilient the country is to disinformation. The fact that the country is small, has four official languages, has a federal structure and is a non-EU member at the heart of Europe means that it is not an attractive target for disinformation. What is more, the Swiss are accustomed to forming their own opinions – including with exaggerated, and sometimes factually incorrect, promotional material – thanks to the regular referendum campaigns. So they should already be well aware of the risks of disinformation. This was one of the findings in the handbook Digitalisierung der Schweizer Demokratie (Digitalisation of Swiss Democracy).

Some people, meanwhile – among them Touradj Ebrahimi, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne – believe that disinformation could be particularly harmful to Switzerland precisely because of its frequent referendums. A population that often goes to the ballot box needs to be particularly well informed. And if an international player had some interest in a voting issue, Switzerland would be vulnerable.

All in all, though, Switzerland is more likely to be the subject of disinformation on international matters than on domestic debates. This is because many international organisations are based in Switzerland, which is a highly globalised country, both politically and economically.

If a person hears over and over again that Switzerland is no longer neutral, they can easily come to perceive this as the dominant view. This is the case even if the statement is made multiple times by the same source but reaches them through different channels. Frequently repeated untruths have a proven effect.

The same video, different narratives: on the internet, anything can be twisted to suit any purpose. Swissinfo / Vera Leysinger 'Switzerland looks like a war zone': A video from Bern

This spring, millions of people watched a roughly 30-second video from Bern. It shows tear gas in the air and people fleeing. These are scenes from a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Bern. The video was shared by dozens of accounts on platforms such as X, accompanied by statements made more or less out of context.“Switzerland looks like a war zone right now,” read one post that reached millions. The user with an anonymous account claimed that the demonstrators wanted to storm the synagogue and lynch Jewish people.

The facts are as follows: there was a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Bern that escalated. The police had the situation under control. The co-president of the Jewish Community Bern thanked the police for their swift interventionExternal link . The Jewish Community Bern and the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities expressed the anxiety felt by Jewish peopleExternal link as the demonstration had reached the street near the synagogue. The demonstrators told the Swiss free daily 20 Minuten that they had wanted to go to the nearby US embassy. The police told the same media outlet that they could not“rule out” that parts of the demonstration wanted to go“to the synagogue and the embassies”.

The misleading texts accompanying the videos varied greatly in their misrepresentation. One British user with a large following claimed that this alleged“storming of the synagogue” was part of a“globalist plan to break the West from within.” This refers to a well-known conspiracy theory with an anti-Semitic subtext.

On that day, the US EmbassyExternal link in Bern advised its citizens to seek information from trustworthy media sources – the English-language service of Swissinfo foremost among them. But such viral videos still have an impact and serious journalism cannot investigate every misrepresentation. On the whole, it is considered more important for democracy to educate the population in media literacyExternal link . In this way, everyone can learn to question the manipulation techniques for themselves.

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