Olaf Scholz promised: no dance videos. Nevertheless, there is criticism of the new TikTok appearance. An expert explains what the Chancellor has to pay attention to.
“This is my briefcase. I've had them for a few decades. And of course, no one is surprised, there are files in there,” says Chancellor Olaf Scholz, smiling into the camera. Anyone interested in what else the Chancellor has in his pocket has been able to find out on the federal government's TikTok channel since the beginning of April.
Anti-discrimination commissioner Ferda Ataman criticized Scholz's TikTok appearance. Political scientist and TikTok expert Marcus Bösch disagrees. He finds criticism of the channel “not very plausible and even less effective”.
Olaf Scholz wants to appeal primarily to young people on TikTok
The one-minute video about the Chancellor's black leather briefcase, which is with him everywhere, has 3.6 million views (as of April 18). Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced on April 8th that @TeamBundeskanzler wanted to provide information about the Chancellor's work and provide a look behind the scenes of everyday government life. The federal government wants to appeal primarily to young people.
“The wrong strategy,” criticized Ataman on Sunday (April 14) in the
ARD
program “Report from Berlin”. As long as TikTok does not follow the rules, does not protect young people from discrimination and does not take back or combat disinformation, it is not a platform for the state.
TikTok, operated by a Chinese company, has more than 20 million German users. They spend 60 to 90 minutes there every day, “which makes TikTok one of the relevant digital channels,” explains Bösch to
BuzzFeed News Germany,
a portal from
IPPEN.MEDIA
. He believes it is wrong not to engage in political communication here. “The government can be present on the platform and criticize it at the same time. This is not a contradiction.”
Olaf Scholz can counteract disillusionment with politicians on TikTok
Videos on TikTok are not just funny - that ignores the serious and certainly political nature of countless videos, including those from state actors in crisis situations, according to the expert. “The comments under the Chancellor's videos show that trust and closeness are created here on a small scale. A first, certainly expandable step to counteract rampant disillusionment with politicians,” says Bösch.
“Kebab price cap IMMEDIATELY”, “Did you ever have long hair?” – comments that Scholz takes up and answers in videos. TikTok is not particularly suitable for classic passive sender-receiver communication, explains Bösch. Rather, TikTok is a place for exchange. The team recognized that.
“Used correctly, TikTok is suitable as a kind of hot wire to keep up with the times, to promote your own ideas and to discuss them,” says Bösch. But that requires the willingness to communicate authentically and emotionally.
Security precautions for the operation of the federal government's TikTok channel
Government circles said that the legitimate criticism of TikTok had been carefully considered. In the fight against disinformation, however, it is important to provide reliable information. That's why they decided to also be present on TikTok.
But doesn't this give the impression that the federal government is not taking criticism of the platform seriously? “I'm not worried about that at all. Because doing one thing doesn’t mean giving up on the other,” says Bösch. There are special security precautions for the operation of the @TeamBundeskanzler channel, such as separate devices without access to internal authority data. “There is certainly no risk that the team will share state secrets or material suitable for espionage via TikTok,” says Bösch.