#123: TikTok Über Alles

The secret master plan of Germany’s right-wing extremists

Hello.

You are reading Understanding TikTok. My name is Marcus. Today i try to unwrap Germany’s right-wing/extremist party Alternative für Deutschland’s TikTok plan for winning elections 2024. Despite the headline this plan is neither very secret nor particularly masterful as it relies on pretty basic assumptions about the platform and political communication in the 21st century. Here is an overview of AfD’s TikTok Strategy including:

🧑🏻‍🏫 Basics 
🕸️ Structural approach
🐸 Procedural approach
💙 Holistic approach

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📊 Background
The far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is flying high in the polls. In 2024, it expects success in regional elections in eastern Germany and the vote for the European Parliament (Deutsche Welle). Since it was founded in 2013 the AfD has been much faster to recognise and exploit the potential of social media than its rivals (The Times) leaving all other parties behind (ZDF). The AfD currently claims six of the ten most popular German politician accounts on TikTok (NDR).

“The way you must have felt in 1923 when you discovered radio”

With nearly 21 million German TikTok users and over half of Germany’s 14-19 year olds using the platform on a daily basis it has become a crucial space for election campaigns.

🧑🏻‍🏫 AfD’s TikTok Strategy –  Basics

Erik Ahrens (x) is the head behind the successful TikTok campaign to get Maximilian Krah, AfD top candidate in the 2024 European Parliament election, well known in the general German public. Between May and December 2023 he helped produce  35 TikTok videos for Krah that garnered roughly 6 million views plus additional articles in traditional media and TV appearances. For this he received a “low four-digit amount” – from funds from the Identity and Democracy faction. The AfD is part of this group in the EU Parliament, which also includes the Italian Lega and the French Rassemblement National (Zeit).

During a lecture at the private "Institute for State Policy", the most important German right-wing extremist think tank according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in the summer of 2023, he raved about the great reach that can be achieved through TikTok. “The way you must have felt in 1923 when you discovered radio is how I feel when I look at my TikTok accounts,” said Ahrens (Tagesschau).

“TikTok is perfectly suited to establish individual politicians”

The points he makes about TikTok in his 24 minute presentation which is publicly available on YouTube (TikTok von rechts) are pretty basic. Something like the platform 101 for political communication:

• Mass media were the old gatekeepers, platforms are the new ones

• While it took months or even years to build up a social circle to disseminate messages successfully on e.g. Facebook, algorithmic-driven platforms like TikTok allow for easy and fast reach

• This is particularly helpful when your content gets deleted. Just set up a new account

• Success comes with steady and regular posting routines. More is more in order to be seen on For You Pages

• Videos with a good and fast hook, clear and simple messages and a sprinkle of provocation that trigger emotional responses work well

• You can reach totally different target audiences with different messages on the platform that enables cross-platform dissemination

• TikTok and other platforms serve as direct and interactive communication channel without “censorship” , “gatekeeping” or “framing”. 

• TikTok is perfectly suited to establish individual politicians: this was well proven with Krah.  
  

🕸️ AfD’s TikTok Strategy – Structural approach

The AfD has set up an entire digital support network rooted deep in an online right-wing culture consisting of – among others – diverse right-wing movements e.g. their own youth movement Young Alternative for Germany (categorized as a confirmed extremist organization by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) since 2023), a unique fan-army and inauthentic amplifier accounts that repost and reinforce messages. This network is immune against the ban of individual accounts as central talking points are circulated again and again and again. Parts of the network can be activated instantly to amplify messages, storm comment sections or hijack hashtags.

Together with colleagues from the University Münster i investigated the right-wing extremist social media campaign against Pride Month, pushed by various AfD-Accounts called #Stolzmonat in 2023. We could show how AfD members managed to team up with anti-government accounts and pro-russian propaganda accounts to spread anti-lgbtqi+ and nationalistic content that was amplified by inauthentic accounts and garnered more than 14 million views with manageable effort. More on the AfD’s fan army can be found here: Bösch, M. (2023). Alternative TikTok Tactics: How the German Right-Wing Populist Party AfD Plays the Platform. In: Pérez Rastrilla, L., Sapag M., P., Recio García, A. (eds) Fast Politics. The Language of Politics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5110-9_8 More on inauthentic accounts like @derbundestag can be found here: Bösch, M; Ricks, B. (2021). Broken Promises: TikTok and the German Election, Mozilla Foundation.

🐸 AfD’s TikTok Strategy – Procedural approach

The digital strategists of AfD understand how to quickly incorporate floating trends, sounds, technical advancements (AI), challenges and memes on the platform and beyond. Unlike other parties the AfD has managed to have its own unofficial emoji with the blue heart standing for AfD support in captions and comments. 

A lot of memes circle around co-chairwoman and leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag Alice Weidel. She can be seen cardancing with her partner, having an imagined affair with German politician Sarah Wagenknecht (#weidelknecht) with youth photos of her being shared on over 100 (fan-)accounts using her profile picture or name. If you want an impression try out #aliceweideledit. Interestingly enough the amplification of Weidel-content is meanwhile pushed by creators that naturally stand against the intentions of the party. Creator and twitch streamer @danielslump for example is ironically embracing Weidel in a TikTok video that has garnered over 3 million views culminating in the sentence “for you i would read Mein Kampf” turning the creator into a “useful idiot”.

💙 AfD’s TikTok Strategy  – Holistic approach

The AfD strategy of course goes well beyond TikTok with the platform being perfectly suited as a starting point for videos due to the cross platform compatibility of TikTok. Videos can be downloaded and re-used on other platforms (e.g. Reels, Shorts) or messenger services allowing AfD TikTok videos to appear in Family WhatsApp groups or Telegram Chats.

Look straight

The goal of an entire counter publicity is ensured through “message transfer” from the parliament to the platforms by AfD MPs giving plenary speeches that conform to the platform. Individual speech passages are deliberately formulated in terms of message (radicality), length (60 to 90 seconds) and form (concluded, simplistic section of meaning) so that they result in perfect short videos for social media (Hillje).

The core of AfD’s strategy of a counter publicity  is “showing up everywhere” online. It is hard to evade AfD messages on TikTok with regular AfD livestreams, algorithmically amplified videos, comment sections full of blue hearts or reaction videos by other creators or other political party members opposing but nonetheless discussing and spreading AfD talking points.

And now what

Meanwhile many politicians of other parties are still hesitant. Communications expert Martin Fuchs says many people are afraid of TikTok. Because of security concerns, but also "because they have to think completely differently there, dramaturgies have to be built differently, stories have to be told differently" (BR24). Despite the obvious numbers campaign managers of other parties still seem to prefer more traditional means of communication ignoring a platform that serves as the core polis for a lot of people aka potential voters. 

Experts meanwhile agree on necessary steps: More active presence on the platform, more resources and more engagement, better community management and -building, more emotion and personality and networks between democratic parties (SZ).

Refuting AfD claims like forever?

Since January 23, 2024 SPD MP Markus Hümpfer is posting a TikTok video a day refuting an AfD claim “until it fails at the 5% hurdle”. His most successful video (day 13) has 406,4K views. He will not stop AfD’s high alone. But at least he is trying. On TikTok.

What else

EU DisinfoLab has published an extensive fact sheet designed to empower the community engaged in countering disinformation on TikTok. I am happy to have contributed to this dense and very informative overview written by Ana Romero Vicente with additional contribution by Marc Faddoul.

TikTok removes views from hashtags (Counterhate)
TikTok is failing to contain violent beheading content on its platform (Media Matters)
A new TikTok feature prompts viewers to shop for items similar (The Verge)
TikTok has an AI conspiracy theory problem (Media Matters)
TikTok is facing its own Napster moment (Fast Company)
The TikTokification of ASMR (Embedded)
TikTok has seen a bizarre (and annoying) explosion of language (Vox)
TikTok Shop is huge. Will it last? (The New Consumer)

Thanks for reading. Speak soon. Ciao, Marcus
P.S. Here are the Dead Kennedys, California Über Alles