German Armed Forces to recruit on TikTok

 

By Jörg Blank, dpa I Saturday, May 25, 2024

 

BERLIN – The German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr, plans to use the short video app TikTok to find new recruits.

In order to “compete for the best minds, the use of TikTok is indispensable”, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence announced in Berlin on Friday.

For this reason, the Bundeswehr employer brand will be taking a new approach to the use of TikTok from the end of May with a specially designed campaign.

According to the spokeswoman, it is “essential for the Bundeswehr to reach young people where they can obtain information and exchange ideas digitally” in order to successfully communicate with young recruits.

Special measures are being introduced for the use of TikTok. These include the technical separation between the Bundeswehr’s networks and the TikTok platform. Dedicated end devices should be used without access to the Bundeswehr’s IT structure. TikTok software is still neither authorized nor technically possible on official IT.

The spokeswoman went on to explain that soldiers are free to use social media platforms privately on their private devices, for example outside of duty or during breaks, as long as the rules and regulations regarding the protection of official secrets are observed.

Der Spiegel news magazine reported that the Defence Ministry is working on short advertising clips in which the Bundeswehr is presented as an employer. The Bundeswehr is thus continuing a campaign similar to those on YouTube and Instagram.

The German government launched its first TikTok channel @TeamBundeskanzler (Team Chancellor) at the beginning of April. The aim is to appeal to young citizens in particular, who rarely use traditional media.

TikTok has more than 20 million German users and is the most used app among 14 to 25-year-olds, according to a survey conducted by market research institute Appinio at the end of 2022.

The German government had initially ruled out Chancellor Olaf Scholz joining the social network operated by a Chinese company. Critics are concerned that the TikTok app could be misused by Chinese authorities to collect information about users or to exert political influence.