Right-wing radical AfD scores on TikTok, German politicians launch counter-offensive

• Chiem Balduk

  Germany correspondent

Miguel Klauss, politician of the radical right AfD in Baden-Württemberg, is making a TikTok video for the European elections. “Go and vote on June 9, otherwise the old parties will win, and they will destroy German industry and do nothing against illegal migration!” With more than 300,000 followers, he is one of the three most popular German politicians on TikTok.

No party in Germany scores as well on TikTok as the AfD. In fact, the radical right party reaches more users than all other parties combined. They are therefore very concerned about the AfD dominance on TikTok.

Miguel Klauss knows what he does well: short, simple messages, smoothly told. “And sometimes with humor. It is a balance between serious messages and jokes.” There is no well-thought-out strategy, as he shows at his office in Stuttgart. He devises, films and edits his videos himself. Just on his phone, with a tripod and light. “It only takes five minutes of work at most.”

The AfD stands out with a number of remarkable tiktoks. For example, Maximilian Krah, party leader for the European elections, came up with dating tips (“Don’t watch porn, don’t vote for The Greens”) and Klauss raffled off a ‘deportation calendar’, with the most beautiful planes to ‘remigrate’ people. But most of Klauss’s videos are about the “destructive” policy of the government, which also wants to silence the AfD.

An important explanation for AfD’s TikTok success is that the party was present on the medium early. “For example, we have invested heavily to attract young people into their political ‘echo chamber’, with a populist message that does well in TikTok’s algorithm,” says Anne Moors, political communications advisor for the SPD, among others.

For years she shouted at established parties that they too should focus on TikTok, she sighs. But no, that Chinese app with crazy dances for children? Serious parties had no business there, was the leading idea.

Until this spring. A poll among 14 to 29 year olds showed that German young people are moving to the right. While 9 percent would still vote for the AfD in 2022, the radical right party now emerged as the largest with 22 percent. Well ahead of The Greens, traditionally the youth party. Experts see a connection with the AfD’s online success.

And that young vote matters: in the European elections next month, 16 and 17-year-olds will be allowed to vote for the first time in Germany.

That is why the ruling party is launching a real TikTok offensive. Ministers signed up and Chancellor Scholz also had to participate. He brought Germany’s most popular tiktoker, Younes Zarou, to the Kanzleramt to make tiktoks with him.

His first videos talk about the contents of his briefcase, the tastiest potato dishes and a maximum price for a döner sandwich. Scholz still seems a bit awkward, but reached millions of viewers and likes in a few weeks.

“It’s a good start, but it could be more substantive,” says communications advisor Moors. “For the long term, it is better to focus on themes that really concern young people, such as inflation and the housing shortage.”

But do moderate politicians even have a chance on TikTok, where quick videos full of emotion and simple messages predominate? “I think so. It’s about making it seem authentic and credible. And they have to learn that you don’t just broadcast, but also communicate with the young people.”

The tick-tocking AfD member Klauss is not yet impressed by his competition. However, he is concerned about the restrictions that TikTok occasionally imposes on AfD members. The reach of the European party leader was curtailed due to “repeated violations of the rules”. Klauss also shows TikTok notifications in which he is reprimanded. It is not stated exactly which rules are being broken.

German politicians are calling for stricter measures against TikTok. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, recently did not rule out a European ban. Communications advisor Moors sees more in regulation. “It is up to the government and the EU to draw up rules.”

Klauss should not think about a ban: “You are not doing democracy any good if you ban the most popular app of the moment.” In the meantime, he looks at how his new TikTok scores: already hundreds of likes in fifteen minutes. And for the time being he has more followers than Chancellor Scholz.