New social media channel
Hello TikTok! How Chancellor Olaf Scholz uses the controversial app
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his cell phone: The head of government has had an account on TikTok since Monday.
© Christian Spicker / Imago Images
The Chancellor has started his own TikTok channel. In the first video, Olaf Scholz can be seen himself – as a silent extra, of all things.
Tense music accompanies the path of two feet in white sneakers across a dove-gray carpet. They finally come to a stop in front of a black briefcase with two silver buckles. You know that bag? She is considered a loyal companion of the Federal Chancellor. And indeed, an abrupt swing to the left: sitting next to a German flag Olaf Scholz (SPD) at his desk with the red telephone in the Federal Chancellery.
The first video from “Team Federal Chancellor” on TikTok lasts 13 seconds. The channel launched on Monday. “We’re just as surprised as you are,” the video’s description says. “And yes, the Chancellor is really on TikTok now.”
The channel doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Scholz recently advocated that the government should use the controversial app. It is important that you are active on all channels and can be noticed with the information you have to provide, said the SPD politician at a citizens’ dialogue in Dresden at the end of February.
In March, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (also SPD) became the first member of the cabinet to launch his channel. More and more members of the Bundestag are also starting to provide information about their politics and everyday life on TikTok. Internationally, Scholz is now joining, among others, the presidents of the USA and France, Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, both of whom are already represented on the app.
Massive privacy concerns
The use of the app for politics is a dilemma. On the one hand, there have always been massive data protection concerns. This is mainly because the app belongs to the Chinese parent company ByteDance. Under Chinese law, TikTok could be required by state authorities, such as the Chinese secret services, to hand over data.
“The argument that ByteDance Ltd. could not, in case of doubt, escape attacks from the Chinese state or Chinese security authorities due to the Chinese legal situation is correct in terms of content,” says the federal government in response to a request from the Union parliamentary group in April 2023. In For these reasons, there are currently efforts in the USA to force TikTok to change ownership.
On the other hand, the app is used so widely that many politicians believe there is no way around it. According to the company, one in four people in Germany, around 21 million citizens, should use the app. It is even the most used app among 14 to 25 year olds, according to a survey by the market research institute Appinio from the end of 2022. The federal government no longer wants to ignore this development.
Lauterbach: “Counterweight to the AfD”
Another argument for being on the platform, where a lot of disinformation is spread: not to leave the space to the AfD. Among the political parties, the AfD has so far had the strongest presence on TikTok. “I will try to form a good counterweight to the AfD there,” said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to the news portal “t-online” at the launch of his TikTok channel.
How will the Chancellor deal with the TikTok dilemma in the future? According to government circles, the criticism that is legitimately leveled at TikTok has been carefully considered. In the fight against foreign manipulation attempts and disinformation, it is important to provide users with reliable information on this platform.
App should not be installed on service devices
In order to address data security concerns, the social media department of the Federal Press Office, which runs the channel, has apparently purchased new cell phones. These should only be used for TikTok. This is intended to prevent the authority’s internal data, which may be stored on other devices, from flowing to TikTok. That’s why employees of the Federal Press Office are not allowed to install the app on their actual work devices.
It is still unclear exactly what content TikTok users can expect on the channel. The aim is to provide insights into the work of the Chancellor and other members of the government, they say – a look behind the scenes of everyday government life. In the first video, Scholz can only be seen as a silent extra. However, that is likely to change in the future.
Will the Chancellor also dance? After all, at least in its early days, the app primarily attracted attention through dance trends. After the 2021 federal election, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said of the debate about the use of the social network: “I can promise the Chancellor that he will soon be able to dance on TikTok if we decide that together.” He then added: “The look (of the Chancellor) suggests to me that we will have a few more discussions.”
At the start of the TikTok channel on Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s account wrote on X: “I don’t dance. Promise.” An hour later, the account of Bundestag member Olaf Scholz responded: “Let’s see.” Winking smiley.