Far-right German-speaking rappers are evading hate speech restrictions by spreading extremist propaganda and disinformation on platforms such as TikTok, according to an investigation.
In one clip, a rapper known as MaKss Damage referenced the war in Gaza and implied that Adolf Hitler had been correct in warning about the destruction caused by Jews. In the video, the artist’s face transforms into an anti-Semitic demonic figure.
“Back then it was Germany, today it’s Palestine,” MaKss Damage, whose real name is Julian Fritsch, rapped in the video shared on TikTok, displaying a Germanic triangle tattoo linked to far-right ideology.
“This time, people are questioning and are disgusted. They listen to old painters talk and understand history,” he added, referring to Hitler, who once aspired to be an artist.
In the same track, he referred to an unproven antisemitic conspiracy theory about the September 11, 2001 attacks, claiming the Jewish owner of the World Trade Centre stayed home that day due to prior knowledge of the tragedy.
TikTok removed all of the rapper’s accounts after being contacted, but did not respond to detailed questions about the enforcement of its hate speech policies.
Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency has identified Fritsch as a right-wing extremist, while the website of the far-right party The Third Way lists him as a supporter.
Antisemitic crimes
Germany’s far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has seen growing support amid increasing anti-immigration sentiment.
The country has also experienced a surge in politically motivated crimes, including antisemitic incidents, according to an interior ministry report published in May.
Fritsch is one of several far-right German-speaking artists who promote extremist ideologies through social media and music streaming services.
These rappers form part of a wider online neo-Nazi movement that includes Holocaust deniers.
This scene has become “significantly more radical in recent years”, said Thorsten Hindrichs, a musicologist at the University of Mainz.
A report by the domestic intelligence agency of Saxony also indicated that the extremist music scene is expanding in that region.
Some of the videos reviewed remained online despite seemingly violating the platforms’ policies on hate speech.
Pro-Palestinian twist
Fritsch, who also has a moderate following on Instagram, shares songs about Gaza that reflect a broader ambivalence within the European far right towards the Muslim world, according to Bernhard Weidinger, an Austrian researcher on right-wing extremism.
Domestically, “they agitate against ‘Islamisation’, portraying Islam as incompatible with Western values,” said Weidinger, a researcher at the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance in Vienna.
However, in terms of foreign affairs, they “harbour quite the opposite sympathies, especially toward Palestinians”, believing they are “also kept down by Jews and Americans,” he explained.
Another popular rapper, E.Mar, who calls himself a “patriot”, has over 96,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, performing songs that criticise Germany’s immigration policies and claim the government is “letting anyone enter the country”.
He has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, often appearing with a black skull mask and a tracksuit top featuring a pattern inspired by the German flag.
In one of his songs, also available on Apple Music and YouTube, he rapped: “We are ready for war here: current politics makes you feel foreign in your own country.”
Spotify stated that it removes songs that promote violent extremism but allows content to remain if it “does not explicitly incite violence or hatred against protected groups.”
Earlier this year, the platform was among several that swiftly removed “Heil Hitler”, a song glorifying Adolf Hitler by US rapper Kanye West, though copies of the song continue to circulate online.
‘Extremist recruitment’
German researchers have observed that neo-Nazi groups are increasingly drawn to TikTok because of its “live” video function, which allows creators to communicate directly with their audience in real time.
These interactions create a “more private, intimate situation”, said Markus Boesch, a researcher at the University of Muenster.
He noted that this could “turn into some form of extremist recruitment”, having observed posts encouraging users to join related groups on Telegram or Discord — platforms known for having fewer content restrictions.
A reporter attempted to access some of the rappers’ livestreams using an alias, but creators repeatedly postponed them, apparently to evade monitoring.
Tom Divon, a social media researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, described these TikTok communities as not “massive, but nimble”, noting that they often shift between accounts.
Messages promoting such alternative accounts were seen on TikTok.
These users expect to be banned when violating content policies but can “often return to the platform with ease,” said Ciaran O’Connor, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank.
Some commenters use emojis to discreetly express far-right support while avoiding detection — including a blue heart to symbolise AfD support and two lightning bolts representing the SS, the Nazi regime’s elite unit.
TikTok and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, both pay over 100 fact-checking organisations, including AFP, to verify videos that may contain false information.
