China’s TikTok ticks voter reach box for Europe’s politicians 1 year on from ban, despite concerns

Election season has all parties flocking to the Chinese-owned social media platform in a desperate bid to reach younger voters

The app is banned by the European Parliament for security reasons but its popularity with the far-right has many worried about content

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The European Parliament and its lawmakers are sidestepping their own restrictions on the Chinese video sharing platform in the run-up to elections. Photo: AP

Published: 12:27pm, 28 Feb 2024Updated: 6:19pm, 28 Feb 2024

As she walks through a courtyard in front of the European Parliament, lawmaker Hannah Neumann is talking in brisk German into a small microphone about “hate speech” and “right-wing extremism”.

“Not a millimetre of space for right-wing ideas. Also on TikTok!” reads the caption of her first video, which garnered almost 2,000 likes and more than 500 comments on the Chinese-owned social media platform.

A year ago, the parliament banned its staff from using TikTok on their work devices and urged elected members and their teams to steer clear of it, citing cybersecurity concerns.

But with Europe entering campaign season for elections that could bring record numbers of far-right politicians to Brussels, Neumann is one of a flood of European politicos flocking to the app in a desperate bid to reach younger voters.

“We’re still working … to decrease the negative and toxic potential of this platform. So none of this stops, but it’s not on us to pull the plug, and until the plug is pulled, we also need to battle within the system,” said Neumann, from Germany’s Green Party.

She remains concerned about China getting “access to all the data” and algorithms “pushing clearly divisive content”, but is worried that boycotting TikTok means her party will not reach an important demographic.