Streaming Services are THE way to consume music – their powerful algorithms help you discover more and more music you will like. But the system is flawed, as algorithms will recommend anything, as long as your data shows a certain artist is right for you. With thousands of fascist songs and bands on the platforms, streaming services play a massive role in spreading fascist ideology. They know about the problem, but they take no action. “Laut gegen Nazis”, an acclaimed organisation fighting fascism in Germany, wanted to change that by creating a trojan Nazi-rock band that turns algorithms into antifascists.

Situation:

Fascism rises again worldwide, but especially in Germany. The ultimate gateway into the scene is music. In the past, fascist music was hard to find, today it’s super easy to come by: streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube host thousands of songs with fascist ideology – even worse, their algorithms help spread those songs. Few people are aware of the problem in Germany. And even though the platforms do know, no effective measures are taken to remove these songs or bands.

Brief:

Laut gegen Nazis, an acclaimed organisation fighting fascism in every form, wanted to change that, wake up the platforms and activate people, so fascist music is removed from the web.

Objectives:

Create as much awareness of the problem as possible

Activate people to put pressure on the platforms

Get the platforms to act and remove songs and bands

Strong activation without a big budget.

To remind the platforms of their responsibility and prove they are spreading fascist ideology, we used their algorithms to spread an antifascist song in the German neonazi community. These algorithms use four parameters to connect bands with new users: Audio (music itself), Content (lyrics, visuals, profile on the platforms), Behaviour (who listens to the band, what other artists do they listen to, on which playlists is the song) and External Data (social media mentions, links, articles, social media profiles, likes, shares, follows). We had to hit all four just right so they would recommend us to fans of real fascist bands. A deep analysis of the data of real nazi bands was essential to craft the perfect trojan neonazi band. To further emphasise the switch in the message, both song and video went from menacing visuals and a dark metal sound to colourful vibes with a hip-hop flare.

The German fascist scene is predominantly male (80%), between 20 and 39 years old. The typical entry age is between 12 and 15. With music being one of the main gateways into the scene, streaming platforms are a crucial tool for recruitment today. Spotify (most popular, first contact), YouTube and Soundcloud (easy upload, even illegal songs) are the most popular ones. Germany’s fascist music scene of producers is fairly small – new artists normally evolve from already existing bands. As the police monitor most fascist musicians for their involvement in criminal acts, masks and aliases are a widespread tool. The longing for new music in the scene is immense, and anonymity is very common for bands – an excellent base for our trojan band. We focused on the leading platforms and a mainstream fascist rock sound to find as many nazi fans as possible.

Over one year, we analysed nazi songs and bands to carefully craft our trojan band, teaser and music video. Keeping algorithms and nazi music fans in mind at all times. And then we released the teaser on 30th December 2021 to Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud, YouTube, Apple and Amazon Music. We ensured real nazi music fans listened to our song by using Artist Affinity Targeting. We infiltrated Telegram groups and used Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to make the band believable for fascists – luring them into sharing, discussing and listening to HetzJaeger. And they unwillingly trained the algorithms, making them believe HetzJaeger was THE new nazi band. On Hitler's seizure of power anniversary, 30th January 2022, we released the entire song and music video. Finally, its true antifascist nature became clear. We proved how the platforms spread fascism, and the public outrage reminded them of their responsibility.

In only one month, our teaser was recommended to 120,000 real nazi fans. On Hitler’s seizure of power anniversary, we released the entire song – revealing its antifascist nature. The nazi community was shocked and angry, creating additional buzz around our initiative. Proving the streaming services’ role in distributing fascist music, we activated over 200,000 supporters to pressure the platforms. We started a petition on change.org, and the press also pitched in, resulting in a media reach of: 1.7 billion. Topic awareness rose by +500% in Germany. Media covered the operation in over 28 countries. ”Laut gegen Nazis” boosted their social media reach by +771% and engagement with their content by +1,400%, but most importantly, the platforms started to act. Over 700 fascist songs and bands have already been removed.