As of: March 24, 2024, 11:19 a.m
By: Moritz Maier
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SPD top candidate Katarina Barley sees an unequal battle for young people's votes in the European elections.
Russia alone operates at least 50,000 bots.
Berlin/Strasbourg – In the European elections in June, people aged 16 and over are allowed to vote for the first time in Germany.
In recent state elections in Bavaria and Hesse, the AfD was particularly strong among young people and made significant gains.
Most young people get their information from social media, where right-wing movements are strong and disinformation often reaches young people unfiltered.
This is a big problem for the SPD's top candidate in the European elections, Katarina Barley.
Fake news campaigns by Russian President Vladimir Putin and right-wing disinformation are difficult to tackle.
SPD top candidate Barley: “Right-wing radicals pay a lot of money to spread disinformation”
“How the European Parliament will be composed will not be decided by surveys or talk shows, it will be decided by the people themselves on June 9th.
The demonstrations are giving me a lot of hope.
But there are also dangers,” says Barley in an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA
, when asked about the apparent shift to the right of many young people who are allowed to vote for the first time.
“Young people often get their information from YouTube and TikTok.
Right-wing extremists pay a lot of money for the reach on these platforms in order to spread disinformation.”
SPD top candidate Katarina Barley warns against targeted disinformation and fake news from the right and from Russia.
© IMAGO/Kira Hofmann
And in fact: More than 20 million Germans are said to use the TikTok app at least once a month.
Over half of 12 to 19 year olds are registered on the app.
TikTok is a mass medium, especially among young people.
In addition, TikTok is no longer just an entertainment platform.
In a recently published book, political consultant Johannes Hilje describes the great influence of right-wing parties and disinformation on TikTok.
The AfD is more successful on TikTok than any other party
The TikTok accounts of the members of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag have more than 400,000 followers.
Barley's second-placed SPD faction only has 128,000 followers.
AfD videos are also seen twice as often on average - especially by young people.
In addition to the domestic right-wing influence, Vladimir Putin is also trying to dissuade young people from centrist and EU democratic parties.
“In Germany alone, Vladimir Putin runs at least 50,000 bots, i.e. accounts without real people behind them, which only badmouth the current government,” says Barley in an interview, describing the problem in the unequal competition against rule-breaking disinformation.
“Fighting this is not easy.
Because we don’t use such means, we can’t and we don’t want to.”
Positive view of Europe instead of disinformation on social media
Barley and the SPD want to stand up to right-wing and Russian opinion-mongering with facts in order to convince young people of the EU and democracy.
“We enter social networks with a positive view of Europe.
We explain that every fifth job in Germany is linked to the EU.
That they can simply go to other European countries for training, studies, work or a student exchange,” says Barley.
Before the upcoming European elections, she wants to make it clear to people what advantages the European Union brings them.
“The problem now is that the freedoms of the EU are taken for granted.
That’s why we have to emphasize the value of the EU again and again, and in the end this can also be done by referring to Brexit and the situation of the people there.”