Summary
A German poll revealed that TikTok users are less likely to view China as a dictatorship, criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or support vaccines and climate change action compared to traditional media consumers.
The study, commissioned by a foundation linked to Germany’s Free Democrats, highlights TikTok’s role in shaping opinions, with users showing greater susceptibility to misinformation, including narratives favoring China and Russia.
Younger TikTok users were particularly impacted, correlating with growing support for far-right parties like the AfD.
Experts warn of the app’s role in spreading foreign disinformation.
Ironically the “Free Democrats” which are like a milktoast version of Musk style Neoliberalism/light Fascism, with recent endorsements of Musk by their party leadership, have gotten a good result in the previous election primarily because of their social media campaigns. Of course having the Axel-Springer Media heavily favor them also played a role. It is the publisher that recently had Musk endorse the fascist AfD party in an article.
But if you think this “Free Democrats” only recently got in bed with fascism, don’t worry. They were also the party with the most ex-NSDAP members after WW2 and they advocated for “looking past” the Nazi history in the 50s already.