The Green Bundestag member Anton Hofreiter recently has his own Tiktok account. In his
first video
which he published on the platform, he explains this step. However, his appearance seems rather stiff, clumsy and unmotivated. “I’ve also been on Tiktok recently,” the Green politician begins his video. And further: “Tiktok is not an unproblematic platform. It belongs to the Chinese state and there are legitimate concerns that data is being accessed by the Chinese state. But a lot of people are on Tiktok. And I want to reach these people too. And that’s why I’m here. I’d be happy if you stop by, listen and give feedback. Your Toni.”
“Well, you were still missing here”
After just one day, his post already had more than 2,500 comments. While some welcome the fact that the Green is now on Tiktok, others criticize his appearance. “We need stable democrats here,” praises one Hofreiter. “It’s that unenthusiastic Tiktok trend,” “We’re not spared anything,” or “Well, you were missing here,” scoffed other Tiktok users.
Parties in Germany can reach potential young and first-time voters via Tiktok. So far, however, the AfD has mainly succeeded in this. And that’s no coincidence: the party has consistently relied on communication via social media since its founding in 2013. In February 2024, “ZDFHeute” published figures from a data analysis by political consultant Johannes Hillje. These show that between January 2022 and December 2023, AfD videos were shown to an average of 430,000 users. In second place, but far behind, were contributions from the FDP, which were viewed by an average of around 53,300 people.
