And immediately he was insulted
Lauterbach is now on Tiktok
By Marko Schlichting
March 19, 2024, 3:22 a.m
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Social media has become an integral part of most people’s lives. The guests of the ARD talk show “Hart aber fair” are concerned with how society can protect children from danger. Health Minister Lauterbach in particular can now have a say.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is now on Tiktok. With the help of digital expert Sascha Lobo, he has just posted his first video there – a Tiktok, as users of the platform call it. The minister complained that evening on the ARD talk show “Hart aber fair” that he was defamed as a “boomer”. Lauterbach says he doesn’t spend much time on social media. Above all, he’s on X, where he posts what he’s thinking every day. That’s why the SPD politician at least knows what a shitstorm means.
Social media has become an integral part of most Germans’ lives. Chatting with friends, pointing out events, arranging dates, but above all exchanging pictures and video clips: for many, this is as much a part of the day as breakfast. But then there is the other side of social media: fake news, hate messages, political incitement. Right-wing parties in particular have learned to use the channels for their own purposes. But they are also so successful there because for far too long the democratic parties did not recognize and understand how to use the advantages of Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp and X in a timely manner.
Nevertheless, platforms like Tiktok have largely changed politics for the better, says Sascha Lobo. In his opinion, the positive effects outweigh the negative ones. But he also knows: “Of course there are negative ones.” But a positive development for politics is that social media has brought greater transparency, accelerated and intensified larger debates, “and that the exchange between the planet of politics and the population has become easier.”
AfD actively uses the app
This is also due to the use of social networks like Tiktok. The network, which belongs to the Chinese technology group ByteDance, has more than a billion users worldwide. Tiktok is now the number 1 information medium, especially for children and young people. On average, they spend around 75 minutes there every day. The platform has therefore become the main source of information for many young people. The AfD has understood this and is actively using the app. Their videos are viewed more than twice as often as those of all other parties combined. The federal government has now also recognized the value of the video platform – almost six years after it was launched in Germany. Lauterbach now wants to be the first government politician to use it regularly – and, he says, to be a good counterweight to the AfD: “We cannot leave social media to the AfD.” He already has more than a million followers on X, which he steadfastly calls Twitter. And the federal government will also be successful.
The fact is: TikTok in particular has significantly changed communication, especially among people under the age of thirty. Sascha Lobo explains it like this: “We’re actually talking about the fact that a platform, a social medium, has understood an entire generation better than almost everyone else.”
Kitten in the blender
But there is also a danger in this. Silke Müller can confirm this. She is a teacher and school principal from Lower Saxony and has written a well-received book. “We are losing our children” they say. In it she warns, among other things, about the dangers of social media. It is primarily violent videos such as animal cruelty or torture that children are confronted with online, she says. And it’s about cybergrooming. Adults establish contacts with children in order to force them to perform sexual acts. “This is particularly the case with gaming platforms and social networks,” explains Müller, who is the digital ambassador in Lower Saxony.
At her school there is a social media consultation hour for children who, for example, report naked photos that they don’t know how to deal with. Or a video of a kitten being put into a blender. It will then be switched on. “These are videos, some of which we have no idea that they are on the internet,” says Müller.
“I believe that adults need to be made aware of the world in which children are traveling. We schools are not doing that at the moment. And that means: We are not preparing the children well. We are more likely to have the discussion: Does digital have to be included Schools or not. I’m very sensitive about that. Of course digital has to be in schools. But it’s about attitude, it’s about ethics. And it’s also about educating. And this educating isn’t happening at the moment.” Sascha Lobo agrees. He has been fighting for years for the introduction of a corresponding subject in schools.
“This content is there”
Silke Müller demands more: “It’s primarily about building social skills.” And it’s about child and youth protection, which is currently not the focus of politics. “Our school system no longer works for the challenges of today,” she says. Lauterbach also wants more information about the dangers of social media. But he is also interested in punishing social media platforms that do not pay enough attention to the protection of children and young people.
Müller sees it differently. “This content is there,” she says. For example, students would be more likely to see warnings like “18+” as triggers and would tend to click on such videos. “The ban and over-regulation debate doesn’t help us; it’s about empowering children, adults and young people not to even look at this content.” She says parents should pay more attention to social media. “I can’t talk about Tiktok without knowing it,” she says. “We adults have a duty to accompany and protect the children in this world. And that also means that we need this competence: teachers, politicians, but also civil society.”