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🇦🇹 Austria /Elections & Politics

‘You’re anti-German, get lost’: An afternoon with the ‘German people’s’ YouTubers in Saxony-Anhalt

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Ongoing story
  • Sympathetic YouTubers are livestreaming AfD campaign events in Saxony-Anhalt and closely engaging with the party’s supporters.
  • Streamer Matthäus Westfal broadcast for more than four hours from an AfD family event in Haldensleben and has previously shouted abuse at Spiegel journalists.
  • The article describes how these livestreamers provide the AfD’s right-wing milieu with a largely unfiltered online presence during the campaign.

For four hours and 28 minutes, Matthäus Westfal livestreamed an AfD family event in Haldensleben, holding a microphone beside a smartphone mounted on an electronically controlled selfie stick. Viewers could watch the event unfold live on YouTube.

Westfal is one of a group of streamers who follow AfD campaign events, film for hours and interview participants. They move through the party’s surroundings with an easy familiarity. Sandra Gabriel, who runs the YouTube channel Utopia TV, is part of the same scene. Its community is the AfD milieu, and supporters once considered reluctant to appear on camera are now being recorded and placed online with little filtering.

You’re anti-German, get lost!

· Matthäus WestfalThe streamer shouted at Spiegel journalists during an AfD campaign event.

The event took place in Haldensleben, a town of about 20,000 people north of Magdeburg, where AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund was expected at a family festival. Westfal warmly praised Austria’s ServusTV when he spotted one of its journalists, but he has shown little patience for other media outlets.

Left-wing extremist rag

· Matthäus WestfalWestfal insulted the Spiegel newspaper while confronting its camera crew.

During an earlier AfD festival in Saxony-Anhalt, Westfal followed a Spiegel camera crew after a reporter tried to pass him and touched his arm. Westfal bumped him with his shoulder, then shouted insults at the journalists, calling Spiegel a “left-wing extremist rag” and a “tick newspaper.” He also yelled, “You have nothing to do with the German people! You’re anti-German, get lost!”

The confrontation was broadcast in real time and reportedly displeased the AfD. German television journalists have repeatedly complained that activists who behave provocatively can obtain interviews more easily than they can. Even Siegmund has interviewed with Westfal, known online as “Aktivist Mann,” and praised him on a podcast.

Tick newspaper

· Matthäus WestfalWestfal used the insult against Spiegel during the same confrontation.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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