TikTok limits reach of videos by leading far-right German politician
TikTok, the short video platform, has limited the reach of leading Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Maximilian Krah.
Krah, who is the far-right AfD's lead candidate for the European elections in June, confirmed to dpa that the Chinese online firm had prevented his videos showing up for users who do not follow him.
He also said TikTok had blocked five of his videos on the grounds that they contained "hate speech" and "hateful behaviour."
A company spokeswoman said the actions were due to repeated violations of the platform's guidelines and that users have been informed that future videos posted by Krah cannot be recommended for the "For you feed."
Opinion polls ahead of regional elections in three eastern German states in September show the AfD doing well but nationally the party has suffered a slight dip after demonstrations against the far right across Germany. These followed AfD members attending a meeting last year with a white supremacist where repatriation was discussed.
For just over a week now, the videos on Krah's TikTok profile have had just a few thousand views, whereas in the months prior to this, there were usually well over a hundred thousand views.
The spokeswoman did not say when the restrictions on his account came into effect but that the measures apply for a period of 90 days.
