German media regulator refers TikTok mass shooting fan communities to EU Commission

Algorithm serves attacker material to minors

The media authority of Baden-Württemberg, the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation (LFK), has referred findings on online glorification of violent attackers on TikTok to the European Commission. In a dedicated focus analysis, the media regulator examined how easily underage users come into contact with content celebrating mass shooters and terrorists. LFK created a test profile registered with a user age of 16 and simulated interest in such material. Following this algorithmic training, more than one-fifth of the videos delivered on the platform's For You feed made supportive references to mass shooters or attackers. The regulatory authority selected TikTok specifically because large numbers of children and adolescents use the service.

Content formats and detection evasion

Material circulating within the attacker fan scene includes artificial intelligence generated videos and video game reenactments. In so-called rampage-dance clips, creators show perpetrators dancing while text overlays display the number of murdered victims. Other clips recreate attacks inside video games, such as the shooting at the synagogue in Halle (Saale), where players attempt to breach the building and exceed the casualty numbers of the actual shooter. To prevent automated moderation systems from removing these posts, creators employ algospeak, emojis, and altered spellings. Creators refer to perpetrators as actors, use hashtags suggesting fictional events, and describe casualty counts by stating that attackers distributed gifts or hugs.

Security risks and real-world violence

Baden-Württemberg's domestic intelligence agency, the Verfassungsschutz, observed that online participants in these networks are often young while exhibiting an extreme affinity for violence. Intelligence officials warn that the subculture fuels continuous self-radicalization and can motivate individuals to enact violent fantasies in the real world.

The attacker fan scene is also considered particularly dangerous because it reinforces itself.

Recent criminal investigations in Germany and Sweden involve suspects connected to these online communities. In July, a 16-year-old Croatian national severely injured two female students with a knife at a gymnasium in Schongau, Upper Bavaria, after glorifying school shootings on social networks. In August, Swedish authorities opened an investigation into a fatal sword attack on a 17-year-old in Fagersta, with investigators examining similar online attacker glorification.

Regulatory referral to Brussels

LFK transferred its investigation data to European authorities so the European Commission can examine potential violations and incorporate the findings into proceedings against TikTok. The German state regulator emphasized that the platform must intensify its measures to suppress attacker fan networks, regardless of whether formal breaches of EU law are established.

LFK now assumes that the EU Commission will subject TikTok's risk mitigation measures to a comprehensive effectiveness review as quickly as possible and subsequently take action against any violations with due haste.

TikTok did not provide immediate comment on the investigation when contacted by the German press agency dpa.