Far-right German-speaking rappers are increasingly using social media platforms like TikTok to spread extremist messages and disinformation, according to an AFP investigation.
In one video, rapper MaKss Damage (real name Julian Fritsch) invoked the war in Gaza and appeared to justify Adolf Hitler’s antisemitic ideology, his face morphing into a demonic figure as he rapped, “Back then it was Germany, today it’s Palestine.” He also referenced a conspiracy theory claiming a Jewish owner of the World Trade Center avoided the September 11 attacks due to prior knowledge.
TikTok deleted Fritsch’s accounts after AFP’s inquiry but declined to explain how it enforces its hate speech policies. Germany’s federal intelligence service has identified Fritsch as a right-wing extremist, and a far-right party website lists him as a supporter.
Rising extremism
Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party continues to gain traction amid growing anti-immigration sentiment. The Interior Ministry reported a spike in politically motivated and antisemitic crimes earlier this year.
Experts say a growing network of far-right rappers now uses social and streaming platforms to spread neo-Nazi ideology. “The movement has become significantly more radical in recent years,” said Thorsten Hindrichs, a musicologist at the University of Mainz.
Pro-Palestinian rhetoric
Fritsch also posts pro-Gaza songs, reflecting what researchers call the European far right’s “contradictory” relationship with Islam. While they oppose “Islamisation” at home, they express sympathy for Palestinians abroad, viewing them as “oppressed by Jews and Americans,” said Bernhard Weidinger of Austria’s Documentation Centre of Resistance.
Another artist, E.Mar, who calls himself a “patriot,” has drawn over 96,000 monthly Spotify listeners and hundreds of thousands of TikTok views. His tracks attack immigration policies and claim that “current politics makes you feel foreign in your own country.”
Spotify said it removes content that promotes violent extremism but may retain material that does not “explicitly incite violence or hatred.” The platform was among those that removed Kanye West’s “Heil Hitler” earlier this year, though copies still circulate online.
Recruitment via encrypted platforms
Researchers warn that extremists are increasingly migrating to Telegram and Discord, which have fewer moderation rules. These private spaces, combined with TikTok’s live-streaming feature, enable “a more intimate form of extremist recruitment,” according to Markus Boesch of the University of Muenster.
An AFP journalist who attempted to join livestreams under a pseudonym found that creators often rescheduled sessions—likely to avoid detection.
Tom Divon, a social media expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, described these groups as “small but agile,” frequently shifting between accounts. Ciaran O’Connor of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue added that users often return easily after bans, using coded emojis—such as blue hearts for AfD support and double lightning bolts symbolizing the Nazi SS—to evade detection.
AFP and over 100 partner fact-checking organisations are funded by TikTok and Meta to help verify videos containing potential misinformation.
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