To what extent did TikTok help Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) achieve record results in two regional elections? The AfD emerged as the strongest party among young voters by a wide margin. According to pollster infratest dimap, 38% of the 18 to 24-year-olds voted AfD.
Given TikTok’s popularity among young users, this could be linked to the strong presence of AfD content on the platform.
“We believe that the AfD’s success on TikTok very likely contributed to the AfD’s electoral success,” Roland Verwiebe, a social scientist and professor at the faculty of economics and social sciences at the University of Potsdam, told DW.
“Half of all 16-24 year olds only get their political information from TikTok,” he said: “That makes the platform extraordinarily influential,”
In Sunday’s elections in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia the AfD garnered the best results of any far-right party since World War II. The AfD alone secured more than double the votes of the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government combined — the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the environmentalist Greens, and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP).
For their analysis, the researchers from Potsdam created 30 fictitious TikTok profiles of users born in 2006 and living in Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg, where regional elections were about to be held.
They then analyzed more than 75,000 videos that appeared in their feeds during the weeks leading up to the election.
On average, they found that users were shown nine videos per week with AfD content — compared to just over one video per week related to the center-right Christian Democratic Union or the newly formed populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), and significantly less content related to any other party.
At the same time, the researchers observed that the number of videos appearing in user feeds did not correlate with the total amount of content created by the parties.
“The SPD, for example, produced more videos than the AfD in the eight weeks before the state elections,” said Verwiebe, “but the party’s videos were barely played in users’ feeds.”
InappropriateMentor on
Holy shit they still dont get what the problem is
henna74 on
TikTok and X need to be banned
NozhaXBL on
A good education could help.
TechFocussed on
Tip: Always look into who sponsered the research. Might tell you alot about the outcome.
Arthur_Two_Sheds_J on
Well, you don’t say!
Schnorch on
Anyone who believes that the CCP does not use TikTok as a weapon against the hated western societies to destabilize them must be really naive.
Godklumpen on
It has to be ANYTHING ELSE than imported radical islamists. It just HAS to be something else. My god this is so retarded.
Mano_Tulip on
I think current politicians in power helped much much more than tiktok.
NidhoggrOdin on
ITT: the types of people targeted by what the article talks about, exhibiting the gullibility that makes them targets in the first place
SimpleJacked2TheTits on
Lol
EdliA on
What a silly thing to say. Of course there is far right content on it. There is far left content too and everything in between because that’s where people hang out. Is not the fault of the public space that people in it are having all kind of discussions some of which you don’t like. The solution is not to close the public space.
lephi132 on
They’re really trying to tell you that TikTok is at fault here 😂
anxcaptain on
Likely…. lol… we all been knowing
WheelDeal2050 on
LOL.
The status quo sure does seem upset over the AfD winning a single state election.
sanity_rejecter on
social media is objectively the worst thing to ever happen to humanity
Sir_Henry_Deadman on
Yeh the lack of moderation is crazy , they don’t block anything you report
didierdechezcarglass on
All that to give the kids in their edgy phase a bit more time so they can vote AFD
heitiki on
No shit.
geldwolferink on
No shit, just make a new account set it up as a young male and see what you get.
20 commenti
To what extent did TikTok help Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) achieve record results in two regional elections? The AfD emerged as the strongest party among young voters by a wide margin. According to pollster infratest dimap, 38% of the 18 to 24-year-olds voted AfD.
Given TikTok’s popularity among young users, this could be linked to the strong presence of AfD content on the platform.
“We believe that the AfD’s success on TikTok very likely contributed to the AfD’s electoral success,” Roland Verwiebe, a social scientist and professor at the faculty of economics and social sciences at the University of Potsdam, told DW.
“Half of all 16-24 year olds only get their political information from TikTok,” he said: “That makes the platform extraordinarily influential,”
In Sunday’s elections in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia the AfD garnered the best results of any far-right party since World War II. The AfD alone secured more than double the votes of the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government combined — the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the environmentalist Greens, and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP).
For their analysis, the researchers from Potsdam created 30 fictitious TikTok profiles of users born in 2006 and living in Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg, where regional elections were about to be held.
They then analyzed more than 75,000 videos that appeared in their feeds during the weeks leading up to the election.
On average, they found that users were shown nine videos per week with AfD content — compared to just over one video per week related to the center-right Christian Democratic Union or the newly formed populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), and significantly less content related to any other party.
At the same time, the researchers observed that the number of videos appearing in user feeds did not correlate with the total amount of content created by the parties.
“The SPD, for example, produced more videos than the AfD in the eight weeks before the state elections,” said Verwiebe, “but the party’s videos were barely played in users’ feeds.”
Holy shit they still dont get what the problem is
TikTok and X need to be banned
A good education could help.
Tip: Always look into who sponsered the research. Might tell you alot about the outcome.
Well, you don’t say!
Anyone who believes that the CCP does not use TikTok as a weapon against the hated western societies to destabilize them must be really naive.
It has to be ANYTHING ELSE than imported radical islamists. It just HAS to be something else. My god this is so retarded.
I think current politicians in power helped much much more than tiktok.
ITT: the types of people targeted by what the article talks about, exhibiting the gullibility that makes them targets in the first place
Lol
What a silly thing to say. Of course there is far right content on it. There is far left content too and everything in between because that’s where people hang out. Is not the fault of the public space that people in it are having all kind of discussions some of which you don’t like. The solution is not to close the public space.
They’re really trying to tell you that TikTok is at fault here 😂
Likely…. lol… we all been knowing
LOL.
The status quo sure does seem upset over the AfD winning a single state election.
social media is objectively the worst thing to ever happen to humanity
Yeh the lack of moderation is crazy , they don’t block anything you report
All that to give the kids in their edgy phase a bit more time so they can vote AFD
No shit.
No shit, just make a new account set it up as a young male and see what you get.