TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms among young people , officially aged 13 and above ( Masri and Weimann 2021 , 698 ). It rose to fame during the global pandemic , when young people were encouraged to stay at home to avoid catching the virus . As young people distracted themselves from their boredom with funny 15-second videos , activists also began using TikTok to promote their causes . This is not just democratically motivated activism . TikTok is also becoming a platform for far-right and right-wing populist parties and movements . In the German-speaking world , strategic
content managers from the far-right Alternative for Germany party even work there to disseminate their content in a way that doesn ' t appear right-wing at first glance ( Breinig et al . 2024 ). To date , the AfD is the only party that intensively creates content on TikTok in order to reach younger target groups and thus reinforce right-wing populist discourses in the social media landscape . This creates an imbalance in the range of political opinions available to young people in the media . In September 2024 , elections will be held in three East German regions , which is an important event as Germany , like
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