First in the feed

1. 1

   3×. The AfD joined TikTok years before the CDU; in 2022–2023, its Bundestag group's videos averaged three times the views of all other groups combined.

2. 2

   60–90 seconds. Speeches built to be clipped, many accounts reposting, and algorithms that, according to several audits, recommended AfD content beyond the party's share of posts.

3. 3

   Native formats, consistency and distribution by real people can be learned; fake profiles, hate speech and disguised ads, never. Counter it: go first, steal the agenda, report violations.

Copy summary

If you're new to this, start with the fundamentals, from the vote goal to what the research says. Read the fundamentals

No interviews were found in which the AfD's digital team explains its strategy in detail; the strategists' voices come from public statements reported by the press. The rest of the case was documented by researchers, NGOs, journalists and courts. This page does not link to party or extremist accounts.

• Erik Ahrens

  Former social media adviser to Maximilian Krah (according to the press); described by the Institut für Staatspolitik (Institute for State Policy) as the driving force behind Krah's TikTok campaign

  In talks and posts reported by the press, he compared TikTok to radio in the 1920s and said he wanted to bypass journalism to reach young people directly.

  Sources

• Maximilian Krah

  AfD lead candidate in the 2024 European elections; member of the Bundestag since 2025

  He was the AfD's best-known face on TikTok in 2023–2024, with one-minute videos aimed at young men, until the platform removed his posts from the feed in March 2024.

  Sources

• Ulrich Siegmund

  AfD lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt

  The most-viewed German politician on TikTok in summer 2026: 28 million views between June and August, 64.5% of everything political accounts in the state received.

  Sources

• Johannes Hillje

  Political and communications consultant

  Measured the social media presence of the Bundestag groups from 2022 to 2023 and explained how the AfD structures speeches so they can be turned into TikTok clips.

  Sources

• University of Potsdam and Bertelsmann Stiftung

  Roland Verwiebe, Johannes Wolfgram and team; Amber Jensen (Bertelsmann)

  Used 268 simulated profiles to audit what TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and X recommended to 21- to 25-year-olds before the 2025 election, and run the Potsdam Social Media Monitor.

  Sources

• Global Witness

  Investigative NGO

  Tested the For You feeds of TikTok, X and Instagram before the 2025 election and found that 78% of party-political recommendations on TikTok were pro-AfD.

  Sources

• CORRECTIV

  Investigative newsroom (Kimberly Nicolaus, Gabriele Scherndl and the data team)

  Identified 60 fake profiles posing as the AfD on TikTok ahead of the Saxony and Thuringia elections; almost all disappeared a day after the platform was contacted.

  Sources

• Marcus Bösch (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung)

  Researcher on TikTok propaganda, HAW Hamburg

  Analyzed the 2024 European campaign on TikTok and showed that more videos did not mean more reach, and that the most-viewed videos about Krah came from unofficial accounts.

  Sources

Paraphrases of strategists' statements as reported by the press, and researchers' findings. Short quotes in quotation marks, translated. Slogans that attack groups are not reproduced.

• He compared TikTok's potential for the AfD to the invention of radio in the 1920s and said he wanted to skip the filter of journalism. Asked on X whether he wanted to manipulate young people, he said yes.

  Erik Ahrens, Krah's former social media adviser, Heidelberg24/FR, “Diskursverschiebung per TikTok und Kryptobros”, Feb 13, 2024

• In a talk at the Institut für Staatspolitik, he described young people's 90 minutes of TikTok a day as “a window into their brains”.

  Erik Ahrens, Jüdische Allgemeine, “In der TikTok-Arena”, Mar 7, 2024

• He called TikTok's restriction “censorship” and blamed “red-green” politicians in Brussels; he confirmed to dpa that five of his videos had been deleted for hate speech.

  Maximilian Krah, Leinetal24/dpa, Mar 20, 2024

• There is an affinity between the algorithms and the AfD: emotional, polarizing and provocative messages are rewarded with more visibility. In his view, leaving TikTok to the AfD was a mistake by the democratic parties.

  Johannes Hillje, political consultant, web.de, “Liebling der Algorithmen”, Dec 21, 2023

While the other parties debated whether they should be on a Chinese-owned platform, the AfD was already posting regularly. By the time the others arrived, the party had a head start of years, a network of accounts reposting and a format tuned to the algorithm.

20.8%

for the AfD in the federal election of Feb 23, 2025: second place and 152 MPs (Federal Returning Officer)

3×

average views of the AfD Bundestag group's TikTok videos, Jan 2022–Dec 2023, compared with all other groups combined (Hillje)

11–12 min

before a new profile saw an #afd video; the first #spd video appeared after about 70 minutes (Potsdam/Bertelsmann)

41%

of voters aged 18 to 24 voted AfD in Saxony-Anhalt on Sep 6, 2026 (Infratest dimap, via KAS)

Five years

1. Aug 2021–Jan 2022Alice Weidel opens a TikTok account; on January 27, 2022, the AfD's Bundestag group publishes its first post.
2. May 2022TikTok blocks the party's official account without a public explanation; the AfD cries censorship and content starts circulating through the parliamentary group, individual politicians and fan accounts.
3. 2023Between March and October the party account grows 83%; in January there were 134 accounts close to the AfD. Krah switches to shorter videos; in September, Ahrens is introduced by Götz Kubitschek at the Institut für Staatspolitik's summer academy in Schnellroda.
4. Mar 19–20, 2024TikTok removes Krah's videos from the For You feed for 90 days over repeated violations; five videos are deleted for hate speech. The platform also takes down a network of 32 inauthentic accounts pushing pro-AfD content and Russian state media narratives.
5. May–Jun 2024Krah is barred from campaigning by his own party after remarks about the SS to an Italian newspaper; even so, the ten most-viewed #Krah videos total about 5 million views, all from unofficial accounts.
6. Sep 2024Elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg: the AfD wins 31% and 38% among under-25s in the first two states. CORRECTIV exposes 60 fake AfD profiles with more than 6 million likes; almost all are gone within a day.
7. Feb 20–23, 2025Global Witness publishes its feed test (78% pro-AfD on TikTok). In the election, the AfD takes 20.8% nationwide; among 18- to 24-year-olds, Die Linke comes first (25–26%) and the AfD second (21%).
8. May 2 and 8, 2025The Verfassungsschutz classifies the AfD as “confirmed right-wing extremist”; the AfD sues and, six days later, the agency undertakes to treat it only as a suspected case until a court rules.
9. Nov 2025–Feb 2026The Potsdam and Bertelsmann study shows the AfD with 21.5% of uploads and 37.4% of recommendations. On February 26, 2026, the Cologne Administrative Court provisionally bars the classification.
10. Sep 6, 2026Saxony-Anhalt: the AfD wins 43.8% and 39 of 83 seats, short of an absolute majority; 41% among 18- to 24-year-olds. Its lead candidate had been the most-viewed politician on TikTok that summer.

Three layers of accounts

Reach did not come from one account but from three layers that fed each other, and from critics, who also generated engagement.

• OfficialThe Bundestag group, Alice Weidel, Ulrich Siegmund, Maximilian Krah and many MPs and candidates with their own accounts, frequently posting short clips of speeches and comments on current events.
• Fans and editsFan accounts, edit pages and micro-influencers who reposted and remixed, partly coordinated via Telegram according to FES, including through the “TikTok-Guerilla” channel opened in 2024 by a member of Krah’s staff (his team denied giving any mandate). This layer also included fake profiles imitating the party, documented by CORRECTIV and removed.
• Wider networkAlternative media, libertarian and misogynist podcasts and influencers, the party's youth organization and the identitarian scene, which repeated topics and framings without formally being part of the campaign.

Germany had about 21 million TikTok users, with teenagers spending 60 to 90 minutes a day on the platform, and mainstream parties that only opened accounts in 2024. The AfD, already ahead on Facebook and YouTube, found the field almost empty.

Platforms

TikTok (For You feed)

The feed recommends videos to people who don't follow the account, so small accounts can reach millions. For the AfD it was a direct line to under-25s, bypassing the filter of journalism.

The Bundestag chamber as a studio

Speeches with short, harsh passages, cut into 60–90 seconds and posted by the parliamentary group and individual MPs. Parliament provided a stage, legitimacy and fresh raw material every day.

Fan accounts, edit pages and Telegram

After the party's official account was blocked in May 2022, according to FES, posting shifted to fan accounts coordinated in a Telegram group. Edits presented Alice Weidel in an entertainment register. In spring 2024, shortly after TikTok restricted Krah’s account, one of his staff opened the Telegram channel “TikTok-Guerilla”, which taught sympathisers to make and spread viral videos and reportedly lured them with prize draws, according to reports including CORRECTIV’s; a similar channel, “Guerilla Videos”, gave instructions for earning money through affiliate links. The AfD said it had no contact or cooperation with the group, and Krah’s team said it had given no mandate.

YouTube and Facebook

An Intermate analysis from August 2023 already put the AfD ahead on Facebook and YouTube; in the 2025 Potsdam audit, about half the party content shown across the four platforms, YouTube included, came from the AfD.

Alternative media and influencer network

Outlets such as Nius (up to nine videos a day in 2023), crypto-libertarian podcasts and micro-influencers with thousands to tens of thousands of followers amplified topics and clips.

X

In the Global Witness test, 64% of party-political recommendations on X were pro-AfD; X did not respond to the investigation.

Local conditions

• Others arrived late: Alice Weidel has been on TikTok since August 2021 and the AfD's Bundestag group since January 2022; the CDU only launched its main account in February 2024, and in December 2023 the CDU and the Greens were still not posting on TikTok.
• Data protection concerns about a Chinese-owned platform delayed parties and the government from joining.
• Voting at 16 in the 2024 European elections and in some states, such as Brandenburg, increased the weight of the teenage audience.
• Eastern Germany, where the AfD is the largest party in several regions, and material worries (cost of living, housing) very present among young people.
• A gender gap among the young: men aged 18 to 29 more conservative, women more liberal, according to a Financial Times analysis cited by the press.
• Monitoring by the Verfassungsschutz (Germany's domestic intelligence agency for protecting the constitution) and EU platform rules (DSA) in force throughout the period.

Nobody published a manual. What follows are the mechanics reconstructed from analyses by Hillje, FES, Potsdam and the press. They are described here so they can be understood, not copied.

Three fronts

Get there first and stay

Entry in 2021–2022, when competitors were absent, and constant posting ever since. Hillje calls it a first-mover advantage: audiences and the algorithm got used to these faces first.

Produce for the feed

Videos under a minute, a hook in the first seconds, one emotional topic per video and speeches written to be cut. Deliberate amateurism read as authenticity.

Distribute through many

Many politicians' accounts and a layer of fans and edits reposting, plus engagement from critics. When one account went down, the content lived on in others.

The life cycle of a clip

From the chamber to the feed, each piece followed a similar circuit, according to the analyses cited.

1. Scene A speech, interview or intervention with a short, harsh, emotional passage on migration, cost of living, war or “elites”.
2. Cut A clip of 60–90 seconds or less, with big captions and a hook at the start.
3. Multiplication Posted by the parliamentary group, the politician and several fan and edit accounts, almost simultaneously.
4. Engagement Comments, duets and remixes (including from critics) signal relevance to the algorithm.
5. Amplification The For You feed takes the video to people who follow no one from the AfD; audits measured recommendations above the party's share of posts.
6. Restriction When there are violations, the platform deletes videos, removes accounts from the feed or takes down fake profiles.
7. Censorship narrative The restriction becomes more content (“censorship”) and the material resurfaces through other accounts, restarting the cycle.

And again.

Part of what the AfD did is simple platform competence, which any democratic campaign can use transparently. Another part is what platforms, journalists and the state documented as abuse.

What applied in this case: Germany's Basic Law, court rulings, EU rules and the platform's own policies.

Classification by the Verfassungsschutz

On May 2, 2025, the agency classified the AfD as “confirmed right-wing extremist”, based on an ethnic concept of the people. On May 8 it undertook to treat the party only as a suspected case until a court ruling.

Cologne's provisional ruling

On February 26, 2026, the Cologne Administrative Court provisionally barred the classification: it saw indications of unconstitutional aims within the party, but no proof that they define the party as a whole. The main case continues, and the AfD remains under observation as a suspected case.

State level

The classification of the AfD in Saxony was upheld by the higher administrative court in Bautzen; Thuringia's is in force but was not challenged; Saxony-Anhalt's awaits the final decision in Cologne.

TikTok Community Guidelines

Hate speech, impersonation of people and organizations, inauthentic behavior and undisclosed branded content are prohibited. Sanctions seen in this case: deleted videos, accounts kept out of the feed for 90 days, a blocked account, profiles and networks taken down.

Digital Services Act (EU)

Very large platforms must assess and mitigate risks to electoral integrity. The European Commission opened formal proceedings against TikTok on these grounds after Romania's 2024 elections.

Data protection

The GDPR applies to campaigns: lists, messages and targeting only with consent and a clear purpose.

Only real, identified people

For democratic campaigns: no fake profiles, bots, bought accounts or paid influencers without disclosure. Coordinating real people to say what they think is allowed; what platforms punish is organizing likes, follows or hashtags to game the algorithm. X, for example, bans trading engagement and using a trending hashtag to manipulate the conversation.

Visibility is not votes

Potsdam and Copenhagen state explicitly that they measure visibility, not support. Hashtags include criticism, and many people see the AfD without voting for it.

Algorithm or popularity?

No study can separate the algorithm's push from genuine popularity; TikTok disputes the methodologies and says it does not favor any party.

The left grew too

In 2025 Die Linke led among 18- to 24-year-olds (25–26%) and, in the Potsdam study, received almost three times its share of uploads in recommendations. The feed rewards the extremes and emotion, not just the right.

Posting more isn't enough

The CDU posted 69% more than the AfD in 2025, according to Global Witness, without getting the same reach; the Potsdam study concludes that engagement tactics, similar across all parties, don't explain the difference.

Social media wasn't the main cause

For Riedl, cost of living, housing and fatigue with the governing parties weighed more. Researchers consulted by the KAS doubt that TikTok decides elections.

The cost for the faces

Krah lost reach in 2024 and was removed from the European campaign and the delegation in the European Parliament; even so, he won a direct mandate in 2025 with 44.2%. Exposure has costs, but not necessarily electoral ones.

No majority

Even with 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt in 2026, the AfD ended up with 39 of 83 seats, short of an absolute majority; digital visibility doesn't guarantee government.

Five questions on the mechanics, the red lines and the responses. Each answer comes with an explanation.

This case study draws on researchers' analyses, platform audits, official rulings and documents, and reporting published between November 2023 and September 2026. All pages were opened and read on October 26, 2026. No source links directly to extremist content.

Updated 26 October 2026