2024-03-09 17:21:28
The traffic light is more unpopular than ever, the AfD is strong. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach now wants to take an unusual step.
His popularity on social media helped him get into office, now he wants to use it to fight against the AfD: Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is planning what no other minister has dared to do so far. He wants to be present on the highly controversial platform TikTok in the future.
A conversation about new communication channels, old rivals and dying hospitals.
t-online: Mr. Lauterbach, important traffic light bills are stuck, the coalition is more unpopular than ever. What is the mood at cabinet meetings at the moment?
Karl Lauterbach: So that the mood doesn’t get worse, you should avoid chatter during internal meetings. I stick to that. And my ministry currently has six very important laws being voted on by the cabinet – nothing is hanging on there. In the health department, the traffic lights work somewhat like clockwork.
Your coalition colleagues don’t stand in the way; it usually depends on the federal states.
But there, too, progress is being made. We have just passed the Hospital Transparency Act through the Federal Council’s Mediation Committee…
We’ll talk about that later. Citizens are still dissatisfied with the traffic lights. Can you understand that?
Naturally. We have significant communication problems. We do a lot, but we don’t communicate it well to people. The populists from the AfD cleverly exploit this. And the Union willingly allows itself to be driven by them. If things continue like this, the Union will become the executive branch of the AfD.
The traffic light dispute is grist for the AfD’s mill. It continues to perform excellently in surveys and is particularly successful with young people. What do you want to counter this?
Good politics. And good communication. We must not leave influential social media to the AfD. I’m even going to start using TikTok now. I will try to form a good counterweight to the AfD there. Young people in particular can be reached very well via TikTok. The medium is a special challenge, but also a great opportunity.
TikTok is purely a video portal, and the production of content is more complex than with the short message service X. Do you have the time for that?
I’m a fairly experienced user of social media, so this won’t put a strain on my time. I already have almost 1.4 million followers on X, Instagram and Facebook combined. And I work a lot in the ministry anyway, so the few minutes don’t matter.
Video | Scholz soon on TikTok? This is what the Chancellor hopes for
Quelle: Glomex
But TikTok is considered a high security risk and there are great fears of spying by the Chinese government. Ministers Faeser and Stark-Watzinger warn against the app. Do you already know about your plans?
I am well versed in data security and digitalization and take appropriate precautions.
But how is that supposed to work in practice? There are government employees in the EU Parliament, the USA and Canada die App strictly forbidden. It is also prohibited on official devices in German ministries.
I know that. And I definitely won’t use a work cell phone for this.
The AfD is enormously successful on TikTok. What content do you want to score points with?
For example, I would like to explain to young people what we actually do – in a language they understand. We are currently doing a lot for nursing staff: We have significantly increased wages, improving working conditions, and making the profession more attractive overall by greatly expanding the skills of nursing staff. This naturally appeals to young people who are interested in the profession or who already work there. Or cannabis – young people are very interested in that.