Before the AfD state party conference in Brandenburg, a cardboard frame with the AfD logo was placed on Wiesenhalle’s chair.
Monika Skolimosca/dpa | Photo Alliance | Getty Images
In recent years, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has moved from the political fringes to the mainstream, consistently ranking among the top three in the country’s polls.
Data shows that young voters now play an important role in the party’s growth.
In Bavaria’s 2023 state elections, analyze According to polling firm Infratest Dimap, 16% of voters aged 18-24 support the AfD – a rise of 9 percentage points from the last election and higher than the party’s overall result in the region.
According to statistics, in the simulated state election held in Bavaria in September for teenagers under the age of 18, the Alternative for the Party led by more than 6 percentage points with 14.9% of the vote, becoming the second largest political party. organizer.
Alternative for Germany also Infratest Dimap data shows that in the 2023 Hesse elections, the state received 18% of the vote among voters aged 18-24, an increase of 8 percentage points publish According to local media reports.
The Alternative for Germany pursues anti-immigration, anti-multiculturalism and anti-Islam policies and seeks to abolish the euro as its currency, lift sanctions on Russia and repeal Germany’s renewable energy bill.
Despite the party’s growing popularity, it has faced widespread public criticism, including calls to ban the AfD and anti-right protests.
German domestic intelligence service Classify some AfD factions and political organizationsITix is far right.
Younger voters are traditionally considered more left-leaning, but voting data shows some divisions, with experts pointing to social media and what they call online echo chambers.
“When it comes to political topics, the ‘rabbit hole’ or tunnel effect can quickly become problematic,” Eva Berendsen, head of communication and political education at the Anne Frank School of Education, told Translated Comments CNBC.
She explained that this means users often only see one political angle, rather than a range of views.
A study A report released earlier this month showed that more than half of Germans aged 14-29 use social media to stay up to date on news and politics. The study found that 80% of people regularly use Instagram and 51% regularly use TikTok.
The far right on TikTok
The Alternative for Germany has found success on TikTok, while other German parties are mostly less active or have only recently joined the platform. For example, the official account of the CDU parliamentary faction, the main opposition party and current leader in voter polls, typically has less than 15,000 total views per post.
By comparison, videos from the AfD’s parliamentary faction often have more than 50,000 total views, while many posts accumulate hundreds of thousands or even millions of views over time. Titles include “The Stasi is coming on the left-wing Green Line” and “(Foreign Minister) Ms. Berbock, you are the greatest danger to German foreign policy since 1949,” according to a CNBC translation.
As of this writing, the AfD’s parliamentary wing has 414,000 followers on TikTok, far more than on other social media platforms such as Instagram, where it has 108,000 followers.
AfD politicians such as MEP Maximilian Krah have also been successful on a personal level. Videos posted on Krach’s account, which regularly attract hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, show him talking about how “real men” vote for the right and fight back against left-wing puppets.
TikTok recently restricted Krah’s account Due to repeated violations of community standards, his videos were not pushed to the platform’s “For You” page within 90 days. At the time of writing, Kara’s latest video has been viewed by thousands of viewers, and his previous viral content remains on his page.
TikTok has rules about content that expresses hateful behavior, speech and ideology. But Berendsen told CNBC it’s one of the social media platforms where tunneling can be a problem.
“Short videos that convey simple messages and emotions quickly are successful on TikTok — and on such a platform, populists can do this more easily than anyone struggling to differentiate,” Behrendsen said.
She added that these messages are often conveyed through TikTok to a younger audience that lacks background knowledge.
TikTok’s algorithm is often viewed as the app’s algorithm “secret sauce“ Crucial for user engagement. It adapts quickly, showing users content similar to what they’ve interacted with before or watched for a few seconds.
social media strategy
“The AfD is far ahead of other parties on all social networks because it is more credible in comparison and because it represents positions that are in the interests of citizens,” an AfD spokesman told CNBC in translated comments.
Far-right influencers are also active on the platform and use tactics such as emojis symbolizing far-right symbols, such as red, white and black hearts representing the flag of the Third Reich, to attract young people.
The German government agency for protecting children and young people from harmful media (BzKJ) told CNBC that content is often specifically designed to appeal to young people.
“Extremist content is in many cases targeted at young people and professionals. These messages are conveyed in light of youth culture, for example through the use of music, games, current affairs topics or the people posting these messages,” a spokesman said. Translated in the comments.
“It’s often not immediately clear whether the content is extremist.”
Emotional keywords and themes such as family, equality and identity are also frequently used, Behrendsen added.
An AfD spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the videos and texts it posts on social media are tailored for young people.
Terms and rules
TikTok has rules against hateful content, which the company says it identifies through computer vision, language models and keyword processing. TikTok said that in the last quarter of 2023, more than 90% of content that violated the guidelines was proactively removed. The company also said accounts that violate the rules will face consequences.
In response to a request for comment, TikTok pointed out its policies to CNBC.
Other social media companies, including Meta and X, have found themselves in trouble over content monitoring and rules on problematic content. Experts worry that current regulations on TikTok and other platforms are not strong enough.
“Even if videos are removed, they may have ‘popularized’ and reached influence before,” a BzKJ spokesperson said.
Behrendsen said the problem was not solely TikTok’s fault, and he called for more media literacy education and for politicians to hold social media platforms accountable. BzKJ pointed out that German regulations require digital information providers to take pre-emptive measures to protect minors, as well as the EU Digital Services Act.
About The Author
