Does the TikTok Feed Lean Right? Exposure to Political Content Among Non-Partisan Users in Germany

We evaluated disparities in exposure to partisan content among new, nonpartisan TikTok users. We performed a sock puppet audit using 118 automated users in Germany ahead of three regional elections in 2024 and the federal election in 2025 (N = 266.161 videos). The design allowed us to account for past individual user behavior, user networks, location, and time. Overall, general political content constitutes 5%–7% of nonpolitical user feeds in our sample. When nonpartisan users encounter unsolicited political content, it is more likely to feature videos mentioning and supporting the far-right populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party relative to all other parties. Further descriptive analysis shows that content by the AfD is associated with a higher volume of accounts and a higher number of viral videos.