Laura goes viral on TikTok with videos about the AfD – now she is planning the next step

Laura is 19 years old, a student and of course on Tiktok. Until a few weeks ago, she danced there, showed off her outfits, only had a few followers and didn’t even have a real username.

Laura then made a film about the AfD – and a lot has changed since then. Your videos reach several hundred thousand people. It receives a lot of support, but also receives nasty criticism. But she doesn’t want to let that deter her.

Laura’s development on Tiktok is an example of the network’s capabilities. It shows how quickly young people can create reach with political content and thus gain relevance.

The 19-year-old, who lives in Kassel, Germany, had already thought about making political videos three years ago. “When the lateral thinking movement came along, I tried to make the first videos,” she says in an interview with Watson.

But somehow the attempt didn’t feel right at the time. “I felt too young, too inexperienced.”

It’s different today. The student, who will graduate from high school in 2024, has been involved in social developments in the country for years, chooses politics and economics as a follow-up subject in high school and wants to study politics in a year. She says: “I want to give my opinion, but above all I want to inform and educate other young people about fake news. I do think that people of the same age listen to people of the same age more often, especially on Tiktok.»

The ever-growing popularity of the AfD, especially among young people, led Laura to become active in her home country of Hesse a few weeks before the state elections and to position herself clearly against the right-wing populists.

The first video immediately went viral.

In the meantime, she was stressed with Tiktok, which says a lot about the fact that a good assessment of which content is offensive and which is not often does not work there.

Tiktok blocks her for ‘nudity’

Laura was apparently reported so much by AfD voters that her video was taken offline for “hate speech,” even though she didn’t use a single swear word in her clip. Even more: Tiktok accused her of ‘nudity’ and ‘body exposure’, as Laura says. And that, be careful, because of this outfit:

Laura made the process public and talked about Tiktok’s measures. And in the video she wonders what exactly the problem is: “You can’t even see nipples,” she says. “It was only thirty degrees. I even put on an extra bra.”

The incident somehow fits with many of the sexualizing comments that accumulate under her videos. “I like your cleavage more than your opinion,” you can read there – and we deliberately quote a rather moderate response compared to others.

“The type of reaction depends on which bubble the video spreads in,” says Laura. “When that happens in the left bubble, I get a lot of praise. Then follows a shower of praise and encouragement. That feels good and really gives me a dopamine rush.» But she also knows the opposite phenomenon: “If a video spreads in the AfD bubble, I get criticized.”

It is remarkable how calmly she handles this in her conversation with Watson. She says: “I can even understand that. The people who sympathize with the AfD then feel attacked.” She claims: “I can understand why a 50-year-old is not happy when a 19-year-old criticizes his views.”

But what is the alternative? ‘I’m not a child. I’m an adult and I have my opinions. Of course, over the years I may judge things differently than I do now. But that’s not the reason I’m hiding.”

She can mentally block insults so she doesn’t delete any response. “The only things that disappear are the things that Tiktok itself hides.” She shrugs. “99 percent of people wouldn’t insult me ​​if they were in front of me. Then they do that via the internet. I can live with that, I won’t let it limit me.”

She mainly relies on her own knowledge. ‘I have read 200 pages of the AfD election manifesto. I am young. But above all, I am informed.” It’s time for them to speak out. “Since ninth grade I have heard things at school about right-wing extremism and the Third Reich. I just can’t believe that people think the AfD is the solution. If we forget history, it can repeat itself.”

In addition to Tiktok, Laura also wants to focus more on YouTube

Despite everything she says, Laura doesn’t seem angry or bitter, but rather happy, optimistic and hands-on. She says: “I want to start a dialogue.” She has now given her channel a name, it is now called ‘the democratic debate’. She plans to publish her first YouTube video soon, “because Tiktok isn’t designed for really detailed explanation formats.”

She then wants to observe how her supporters develop. She is now thinking of focusing entirely on the political content and leaving other content behind. “It has become a hobby for me to express myself politically online through video.” And she could certainly imagine doing this permanently.

But she has no plans to set up an anti-AfD channel. She wants to speak across party lines about political debates. She says: “I made the videos about the AfD because the elections were coming up and the party was getting stronger. But there are plenty of other topics in Germany that I also find exciting and important. And I would like to talk about that with other young people.”

There just has to be time for all the other facets of life, because even though she is well on her way to becoming a political influencer, she says: “I can’t imagine becoming a full-time influencer.”