00:09This is Matthäus Westphal, or activist Mann, a streamer known for provoking confrontations
00:16at AFD rallies.
00:18In this video he actually pushes the journalist and then claims the opposite.
00:22And Westphal is not just any influencer, he has a criminal record for incitement to hatred.
00:28Even so, the AFD welcomes his coverage, and there's a strategy behind it.
00:33The relationship between the AFD and streamers or right-wing influencers is outsourcing.
00:41The party has moved the aggressive part out of its campaign and kind of out of its party
00:47and into the hands of people it does not have to answer for.
00:52This relationship is not one-sided.
00:54The AFD ranks first in the polls in Germany, a huge potential audience for streamers like
01:00Westphal.
01:01That's why he's not the only one by far.
01:04Something you often see close ties to well-known politicians.
01:07Despite his modest following of about 27,000 on TikTok, Westphal generates up to 860,000
01:14views on his videos.
01:16When we look at his most successful ones, one face keeps popping up.
01:20Ulrich Siegmund, who might become the first AFD Prime Minister in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
01:26Germany's domestic intelligence service says that Siegmund's AFD branch in Saxony-Anhalt is
01:31a confirmed right-wing extremist organization because of its racist ideology.
01:36But that's nowhere in Aktivist-Mann's content.
01:39He allows Siegmund to define himself.
01:48They are trying to build or create a new reality.
01:57Everything is dangerous and this stuff.
02:01And they need the streamers and the media activists who repeat this narrative that our reality
02:09is a different one than the normal media is telling us.
02:14It's okay.
02:14Thanks for this.
02:14And the other one, we need to go live after this.
