As of: February 20, 2024, 9:55 p.m
By: Peter Sieben
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The AfD has more reach on Tiktok than any other party.
A trick also helps.
One characteristic, in particular, will be fatal to left-wing liberals in the long term, says a political consultant.
Berlin - Tiktok is becoming a kind of people's receiver 2.0 for extremist circles: The platform is a powerful tool for spreading propaganda, regardless of how radical or absurd the messages may be.
Radical Islamists have long used Tiktok to reach young people.
Tiktok is no longer just a platform for creative short clips and dance videos.
AfD politicians have also recognized this.
And they spread their positions more effectively than politicians from democratic parties.
A study by political consultant Johannes Hillje shows that videos from the AfD parliamentary group on Tiktok were viewed on average three times as often as those from all other parliamentary groups combined between January 2022 and December 2023.
Hillje sees a clear strategy behind this: “The AfD is a first mover: it was the first party to use this platform intensively and systematically and thereby gained a competitive advantage.”
AfD videos on Tiktok: “The federal government hates you”
The AfD's videos are mostly short clips, often set to a loud hip-hop beat.
It's sometimes so loud that you can barely understand what's being said.
These are often slogans like: “The federal government hates you” or “Real men are right-wing.
Real men are patriots.
Then it works with your girlfriend too.” This direct approach is tailored to the target group – and works again and again: “If you look at the videos of some AfD politicians, you can see a direct address on an emotional level.” Example: AfD politician Martin Krah, who gives supposed dating advice to young men.
“In the video he addresses teenagers about an intimate topic.
And that is initially apolitical.
But then comes the twist: If you want to have a wife, don’t be green, be right-wing.”
The AfD also uses Tiktok to distribute Bundestag speeches that are surprisingly compact and pointed.
Hillje explains: “The speeches in the Bundestag are in line with the platform.
The AfD designs the speeches in such a way that short passages with radical statements can be extracted.
This is a direct message transfer from the plenum to the platform.
The other factions cannot do this.”
The SPD, CDU, Greens and FDP are rather hesitant on Tiktok
The other factions ignored Tiktok for a long time and only joined late with their own accounts.
The tenor that prevailed for a long time: On Tiktok you can only achieve reach with dubious polarization.
“This is an excuse that shows ignorance,” says Hillje, emphasizing that it is not only polarizing messages on social media that can reach many people: “As a democratic party, you cannot say: This is not a communication space for us.”
The attempts by the SPD, Greens, FDP and Union on Tiktok have so far been rather cautious.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert, for example, tries to explain the supply chain law in an eight-minute video.
“This is going to be a bit long, but this is an important point that I would like to expand on a bit,” he says with a serious face.
Hillje criticizes the democratic parties’ aversion to emotions: “The democratic parties’ aversion to emotions is fatal.
Emotionalization is equated with de-objectification, especially in the left-liberal milieu.
But people inherently think of politics emotionally.”
AfD relies on anger and fear
Hillje emphasizes that emotions should not be equated with affects such as fear or anger.
“The AfD works with them.
But there are also democratic emotions,” he says.
He advises Kühnert not to explain laws about technical content, but rather about the values that are realized through the law: “I would advise Kevin Kühnert not to explain a law about technical content, but rather about what values are realized through the law become."
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Video by Robert Habeck on the Middle East conflict: “Values-based political communication”
There are examples that show that not only short, bright clips can be successful.
Robert Habeck was extremely successful on social media with his video on the Middle East conflict.
“This is several minutes long and not a polarizing short snippet.
He applies the feeling of 'never again is now' to political and social practice.
This is a type of values-related political communication that also works on social media,” says Hillje.