Far-right German-language rappers are flouting hate speech rules by spreading extremist rhetoric and disinformation on platforms such as TikTok, an AFP investigation found.

In one video, a rapper named MaKss Damage cited Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and suggested Adolf Hitler was right to claim the Jews caused destruction, with the artist’s face morphing into an antisemitic demonic silhouette.

“Back then it was Germany, today it’s Palestine,” MaKss Damage, whose real name is Julian Fritsch, rapped in the video he posted on TikTok, displaying a Germanic triangle tattoo synonymous with the far right.

“This time, people are questioning and are disgusted. They listen to old painters talk and understand history,” he added in a reference to Hitler, who aspired to be an artist.

In the same song, he referred to the false antisemitic conspiracy theory about September 11, 2001, according to which the Jewish owner of the World Trade Center stayed at home because of prior knowledge of the attacks.

TikTok took down all the rapper’s accounts after being contacted by AFP, but did not respond to specific questions about enforcing its policies on hate speech.

Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency identified Fritsch as a right-wing extremist, and the website of far-right party The Third Way has named him as a supporter.

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has seen its support surge on the back of hardening attitudes to immigration.

The country has also seen a jump in politically motivated crime, including soaring rates of antisemitic offenses, according to official figures published in an interior ministry report in May.

Fritsch is one of a group of far-right German-language performers who promote........

© The Times of Israel