AfD staffers allegedly use taxpayer-funded positions for online trolling and mobbing

Rüdiger Lucassen, the recently resigned defense spokesman for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), claimed on X that anonymous accounts attacking him are on the "Partei-Payroll" (party payroll). The claim prompted an investigation by Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (F.A.S.), which spoke with multiple current and former AfD lawmakers and staffers on condition of anonymity.

Parliamentary staff are forbidden from doing campaign work or using work time for anonymous trolling. Despite this restriction, a Landtag deputy told F.A.S.: "Mitarbeiter werden ganz bewusst eingestellt, damit sie in Kreisverbänden Stimmung für einen Abgeordneten machen oder im Internet positiv kommentieren und Beiträge teilen." (Staff are deliberately hired to drum up support for a lawmaker in local associations or to post positive comments and share posts online.) A former Bundestag member said simply: "In der AfD ist das völlig normal." (In the AfD, that is completely normal.)

Erik Ahrens, a former consultant to Maximilian Krah, the AfD's lead candidate for the 2024 European election, said there is a clique called "die Mobbing Squad" that mobs AfD members deemed insufficiently radical. One member of that clique, according to Ahrens, is Patrick Kolek, known in the party as "Wuppi." Kolek works as a consultant for AfD lawmakers Joachim Paul and Lena Kotré. Kolek described a chat group of "Hardcore-Autisten" (hardcore autists) that doxxes opponents. A screenshot of an email from a staffer of an AfD Bundestag member to an energy company, reporting an employee for a comment about American activist Charlie Kirk, was shown to F.A.S. Kolek said he vaguely recalled the email but had only met the sender twice.

Chat logs from a group called "Kontaktschuldzentrale" show plans to smear Maximilian Krah. A member named "Sinister" suggested ordering drugs to Krah's address and tipping off police. "Wenn Du herausfinden kannst, wann er sich ne ordentliche Menge Koks besorgt, können wir das ohne großen Aufwand machen und ihm die 'Darsteller in Blau' vorbeischicken," Sinister wrote. (If you can find out when he gets himself a decent amount of coke, we can do that without much effort and send the 'actors in blue' to him.) Another idea was to order drugs on the darknet and tip police when the package arrived. The group responded: "Gute Idee." (Good idea.)

A Bundestag deputy described some staffers as "totale Desperados" (total desperados) who "für eine Handvoll Dollar jede Drecksarbeit" (do any dirty work for a handful of dollars). One unnamed lawmaker denied any knowledge of organized trolling, saying: "Ich habe von so was noch nie gehört!" (I have never heard of such a thing!)