Erik Ahrens, a prominent social media savant for the right-leaning party, The Alternative for Germany (AfD), has been blamed for plenty, but the accusation of sneakiness is one he’s so far managed to escape. At the youthful age of 30, Ahrens boasts of his activities that spurred the AfD’s landslide achievement of winning 38% of votes from the 18-24 demographic in the Thuringian elections – five percentage points higher than the state’s overall results.
Ahrens’ most significant accomplishment in the recent couple of years has been to significantly boost AfD’s exposure among younger voters by creating quick, provocative, and moving TikTok content that other mainstream parties are now trying to mirror.
His key strategy, disclosed during a TikTok workshop, revolved around creating content that was engaging and emotionally appealing in order to create viral content on the Chinese video-sharing platform. Ahrens focus on patriotic nationalism and identity politics has been instrumental in achieving his goals, with his political manifesto even outlining the trajectory of his ideal follower – one who is introduced to right-wing ideas at a young age, and gradually develops these beliefs into adulthood, taking these views into every aspect of their life.
Ahrens is clearly proud of disrupting the usual political alignment, especially in East Germany, by demonstrating that younger generations can lean right as opposed to their traditionally left-leaning parents. With his bold approach and lack of humility, it’s no surprise he likens himself to the likes of Steve Bannon and Dominic Cummings. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Ahrens stated: “My productivity, motivation, and intelligence are all exceedingly high, and I lean to the right-wing.”
Ahrens holds the belief that only right-wing content can go viral because anything else is “mundane”, refuting an age-old assumption seems to overwrite the portrayal of younger generations as more liberal than their forebears.
Ahrens is an ambitious individual who discovered the mesmerizing potential of TikTok, with its brief, recurring video clips, reminiscent of the groundbreaking invention of the radio in 1923. He openly shared this revelation at a discourse held by the Institute for State Politics (IFS), an intellectual organisation with a focus on right-wing nationalist ideologies.
Known for aiming at the elder German right-wing cohort who are fond of reading, the IFS, with Ahrens assistance, has managed to connect with the majority of TikTokers aged from 14 to 19, who devote roughly an hour and a half daily scrolling through the app.
He claimed that this time frame grants them ample opportunity to infiltrate their thoughts. The notion of seizing this “valuable social capital of attention”, as phrased by Ahrens, is hardly new. An academic named Neil Postman referred to a similar struggle in his 1986 informative book titled Amusing Ourselves to Death. The book agonises over the diminishing quality of US public conversation in cable television times.
With a reference to Aldous Huxley, the dystopian author of Brave New World, Postman cautioned against ignoring man’s insatiable craving for distractions. Martin Fuchs, a German digital consultant, attributes this distraction craving and humans’ susceptibility to incitement as the driving force behind the AfD’s triumph on social media, where virality equates increased exposure.
A testimony to this is the latest Thuringia’s election outcome, where social Democrats managed to secure only 6%. Fuchs views this as indicative of the democratic parties’ disregarding of social media and the young voting demographic leveraging it.
The AfD exploits this democratic deficit by offering eye-catching, concisely edited, contentious and extreme ideas on immigration, safety, and even pension considerations. “The resultant polarisation fuels virality and ultimately heightens visibility,” Fuchs told MDR television in Germany. He further sees it as a self-perpetuating process where AfD is presented to individuals who did not even seek it out.
Young TikTokers associated with AfD, recognised for their catchy political slogans, are boldly probing significant issues, such as Germany’s postwar consensus on the Nazi era.
The AfD’s claim that the shared agreement amongst Germans to remember the atrocities carried out during the Nazi era is about sustaining a permanent “blame culture” is flawed. In truth, the agreement is about entrusting all Germans with the task of preserving the memory of Nazi-era crimes, which were perpetrated by culprits who enjoyed the tacit approval of the majority.
Eric Engelhardt, a pro-AfD influencer on TikTok, recently criticised political figures deemed as “politically correct” in Germany for their constant reminders of the country’s past. Engelhardt accuses these politicians of promoting self-hatred and criminal labelling among Germans. He motivates his followers to love their country and defend the legacy left by their forebears on his platform. Despite only having 8,675 subscribers, Engelhardt’s content, characterised by provocative themes like “nationalistic Eastern Germans have side partings”, gain significant traction due to TikTok’s algorithm.
For individuals like Ahrens, controversy is a potent digital tool to steer public opinion. Among his frequent postings are those instructing “authentic” men to avoid beer due to the potential oestrogen content in hops. Another of his recent popular themes centres on cautioning followers against consuming meat from grain-fed animals.
Ahrens, aged 30, is evidently relishing in his newfound prominence in mainstream media as an up-and-comer, a rising far-right menace, and a leading propagandist. As he recently remarked gleefully in an article, the exclusive control of attention once held by traditional media has dissipated.