Germany's President Olaf Scholz has launched his own account on the popular social media network TikTok. He said that people should not expect any videos of him dancing. The move is a significant leap forward in modernizing government outreach efforts and engaging younger audiences.
A Light-hearted approach
The government hopes that through this new outlet, citizens will be able to see what happens behind closed doors in governing their country. This initiative aims at the evolving preferences of citizens who increasingly turn to platforms like TikTok for news and political discourse, as reported by Steffen Hebestreit, spokesperson of Chancellor Scholz.
Nevertheless, even though he joined the TikTok bandwagon, Chancellor Scholz still assures everyone that there will be no dancing from him.
In his first video of such nature, accompanied by playful background music, Scholtze takes viewers around his office before finally sitting at his desk; all these make it more personal about himself online.
Global trend among leaders
Scholz is the only one among many Western leaders who use the app to get closer to their youngest voters’ hearts. For example, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, has already subscribed to it as he believes it is an effective way to engage with younger people who play a crucial role in politics.
However, despite Western leaders’ enthusiasm for tapping into TikTok’s huge user base, there are still concerns over its ownership and susceptibility to disinformation. The US President himself outlined this during a recent conversation with China’s leader Xi Jinping when the topic of TikTok came up.
Navigating security concerns
Thus, Scholz’s office carefully considered all safety issues before joining TikTok. His carefulness is also based on broader fears among Western politicians about ties between the platform and Beijing and its potential use for propaganda purposes.
In America, lawmakers have made efforts to deal with these worries. This happened soon after a bill aimed at providing more vigilance towards platforms like TikTok was passed in the House, indicating a growing bipartisan consensus that stricter oversight measures are required, including forcing ByteDance (the Chinese company that owns it) to sell the app.
Looking ahead
The timing of Chancellor Scholz’s latest visit to China adds an element of surprise given the recent launch of his official account on Tiktok.
And while it offers new ways of engaging in politics, its use within diplomatic ties demonstrates how layered digital diplomacy now becomes.
Overall, Chancellor Scholz’s initial step into TikTok implies a sophisticated way of seizing digital networks for political communication while balancing out opportunities for engagement vis-à-vis protecting national interests in an ever more interdependent world.