False information on Swiss neutrality or security in the country is circulating internationally. These propaganda campaigns threaten the security and brand image of Switzerland, analyzed Swi Swissinfo.ch.
Is Switzerland still neutral? At least 14,000 times a month, internet users ask this question or make a similar request to Google, outside of Switzerland and in English.
During tests, Google displays, relatively high in the list of results, an article in English published by a Turkish state media: “Why Switzerland gives up its neutrality after 500 years.” The text itself is certainly more nuanced, but the title influences interpretation. And as journalists know, many readers are limited to the title and introductions, instead of diving into depth in the text.
Switzerland in Russian propaganda
Some foreign actors, including Russian propaganda channels, disseminate false information on Switzerland.
Since the beginning of 2024, Russia Today (RT) has multiplied its reports on the country. The German home page displays the Switzerland logo, perhaps also to legitimize its media coverage. Although the platform remains accessible online in Germany, the European Union prohibited RT after the start of the Russian Aggression War in Ukraine.
At the end of 2024, an Audio report from RT claimed that Switzerland came closer to NATO “largely without the knowledge of the public”. The report suggested that a possible abandonment of neutrality could “lead to Switzerland in the geopolitical conflicts of the West”.
In other reports, RT had also said that Berne had already given up his neutrality, in particular because of the former federal councilor and president of the Confederation Viola Amherd, who would be “a NATO supporter”. This contradictory chronology shows the intention of the authors: it is not at all coherent information, but of dependent stories.
It is often heard that RT has only a limited scope. But Some studies Show that its contents find their audience, partly via “alternative media” which refers to RT or directly relay its articles. THE Magazine The World Week In particular, some of his texts have taken up.
It is important that those who actively learn about Swiss neutrality obtain reliable and correct information. Internet users who defend the idea of a Swiss who have given up its neutrality pass it up for a stakeholder. And states that “take sides” can be considered enemies.
“Switzerland looks like a war zone”
Last spring, millions of people watched a video of around 30 seconds shot in Bern. We see the use of tear gas, people who run. These are scenes from a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Swiss capital. The video was shared by dozens of accounts on platforms such as X.
Some messages have sometimes released the video from its context: “Switzerland is currently resembling a war zone”, could be read in a message that has reached millions of people. The user, whose account is anonymous, said that the demonstrators wanted to storm the synagogue and lynch Jews.
The facts are as follows: a pro-Palestinian demonstration held in Bern degenerated. Building windows have been broken and a damaged police vehicle. The police have mastered the situation.
The co -president of the Jewish community in Bern has Thanks the police for their rapid intervention. The Jewish community of the City and the Swiss Federation of Israelite Communities have expressed concernbecause the procession approached the synagogue. For his part, the collective of demonstrators declared a free daily 20 minutes that he intended to go to the American Embassy located nearby, not to the synagogue.
The misleading texts accompanying the broadcast videos displayed important differences in their erroneous presentation of the facts. A very influential British user has, for example, affirmed that this alleged “assault of the synagogue” was part of the “plan of the globalists aimed at destroying the West from the interior”.
The publications accompanied by the video of the demonstration in Bern took up a real event, distorted the context and helped to sow doubt and polarize opinion. They had the side effect of presenting Switzerland as an unstable and dangerous country, in which the police would have lost control.
The representation of a dangerous country
The idea that Switzerland is a risky country also dominates Chinese social networks. On platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, it is often presented in the guise of a racist and criminal country. Many Chinese people tell online how they and they have been stolen or attacked in the Alpine country. In this speech, the security control of candidates for a Swiss university is presented in an exaggerated manner as a “ban on Chinese students”.
The story that Switzerland has given up its neutrality also spreads on the Beijing side. According to these publications, in the event of Chinese invasion in Taiwan, Switzerland would freeze all the bank accounts of the Chinese and Chinese. This information is based on the false, but widely used idea, that the United States makes Swift Banks sing with the SWIFT system. On the political level, Bern would have given up his neutrality and would be likely to be blackmail.
These stories do not have an easily identifiable common author. However, they appear in a censored environment and paint a portrait of an anti-Chinese Swiss society. Once again, these users describe Switzerland as an unstable country.
There is little risk that these Russian and Chinese media biotopes become dominant in Swiss national languages. However, it is much more likely that disinformation on certain subjects dominates in other languages and internationally.
Article Original: Benjamin von Von Wyl (SWI swissinfo.ch)/fur