Radicalization among young people: Tikok has to be more active!

Radicalization among young people: Tikok has to be more active!

In a sensational interview with Today has Florian Krumböck, Jugendpartei, has an impressive responsibility of Tiktok in dealing with the radicalization of youth required. In view of the alarming radicalization of a 13-year-old child in St. Pölten, the People's Party, led by Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, plans to take preventive measures together with Tikkok. After a conversation in Berlin, Krumböck found that it was of crucial importance to prevent extremist content at an early stage and the cooperation with Tikkok is considered essential. "Platforms like Tikkok have a special responsibility," says Krumböck and his colleague Marlene Zeidler-Beck.

Current reports, such as the analysis of ZDF , also emphasize how right-wing actors tieKok use as a dangerous tool for recruitment for young people. The platform, which is particularly popular with young people, is increasingly becoming home to radical ideologies that are hiding behind innovative content. Experts warn that the algorithm pop culture used by Tikok could combine and apparently harmless content with extremist messages. The fact that 54 percent of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are regularly active on Tiktok is particularly worrying for society.

urgent need for action against extremism

Against the background of a recently uncovered IS network in Austria, in which a 20-year-old North Macedonian acts as the main suspect, the importance of combating radicalizing content on platforms such as Tiktok becomes increasingly clear. In this special case, several young people between the ages of 13 and 15 were recruited for this, which more than underlines the urgency of specially coordinated prevention projects. Tikok has promised initiatives to combat hate speech and would like to work together on solutions, but the challenge of developing specifically effective projects remains.

It becomes increasingly clear that responsible use of social media is decisive to protect the youth from extremist influences. Educational initiatives and discussions about the dangers of radicalization are crucial to promote critical media literacy, as political scientist Eva Berendsen has already noted. The responsibility is both the platforms as well as the parents and educational institutions to support children and adolescents in this digital era.