As of: February 20, 2024, 4:26 p.m
By: Peter Sieben
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The AfD is significantly more successful on Tiktok than all other parties.
A trick also helps.
Meanwhile, the left-wing liberals in particular often get in their own way, says a political consultant.
Berlin – If you put your mind to it, Tiktok is ideal as a kind of people's receiver 2.0.
If you want, you can reach a lot of people and spread propaganda - no matter how radical or absurd the content is.
Extremist Islamists have been doing this for a long time, primarily to appeal to young people.
Right-wing extremist politicians also use Tiktok for exactly this purpose, which is no longer just a platform for creative short videos and dance clips.
And they convey their positions much more successfully than politicians from democratic parties.
AfD videos are shown particularly often on Tiktok
Between January 2022 and December 2023, videos from the AfD parliamentary group on Tiktok were viewed on average three times as often as those from all other factions combined.
This is the result of a study by political consultant Johannes Hillje, who evaluated the video impressions over two years.
There is a clear strategy behind this, he says: “The AfD is a first mover: it was the first party to use this platform intensively and systematically and thereby gained a competitive advantage.”
Videos by AfD politicians are usually short clips, lasting less than a minute.
There is often a hip-hop beat blaring, sometimes so loud that you can hardly understand what is being said.
These are slogan-like sentences like: “The federal government hates you.” Or: “Real men are right-wing.
Real men are patriots.
Then it will work with your girlfriend too.”
Dating tips from the AfD on Tiktok: “Direct address on an emotional level”
This type of direct approach is attractive.
“If you look at the videos of some AfD politicians, you can see a direct address on an emotional level,” says Johannes Hillje.
Example: AfD politician Martin Krah, who gives young men supposed dating tips.
“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.”
But the AfD also brings Bundestag speeches on Tiktok - surprisingly compact and pointed.
It's no coincidence, says political scientist Hillje: “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. These are often 60 or 90 second passages that later appear on Tiktok.
“This is a direct message transfer from the plenum to the platform.
The other factions cannot do this.”
It's not just polarizing messages that get reach on Tiktok
In general, the other factions are lagging behind when it comes to Tiktok.
The parties were cautious and only joined late with their own accounts.
For a long time the tenor was: With Tiktok you can only gain reach with dubious polarization.
Tiktok has been declared a yuck platform.
“This is an excuse that shows ignorance,” says Johannes Hillje.
Not only polarizing messages would have reach: “As a democratic party, you cannot say: This is not a communication space for us.”
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So far, the SPD, Greens, FDP and Union have started rather tentative Tiktok attempts.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert explains the supply chain law in an eight-minute video.
“This is going to be a little longer, but this is an important point that I would like to expand on a little,” he begins with a serious face.
Not a prime example of a successful Tiktok post.
“The emotion aversion of democratic parties is fatal.
Emotionalization is equated with de-objectification, especially in the left-liberal milieu.
But people think about politics emotionally per se,” says Johannes Hillje.
AfD works with fear and anger – “but there are also democratic emotions”
One should not equate emotions with affects such as fear or anger.
“The AfD works with them.
But there are also democratic emotions,” said the political consultant.
People would compare politics with their own values.
You can reach them through this: “I would advise Kevin Kühnert not to explain a law about technical content, but rather about which values are realized through the law.”
Video message from Robert Habeck extremely successful
There are definitely examples that show: They don't have to be short, bright clips.
Robert Habeck, for example, 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.