Social exclusion and radicalisation in German Muslim TikTok users

This study examines whether the consumption of videos on TikTok pertaining to the social exclusion of Muslims contributes to radicalisation. To address this question, the chapter presents a field experiment involving German Muslim TikTok users (n = 99). The study explores perceptions and experiences of social exclusion, discrimination, and grievances among Muslims, investigating their potential link to radicalisation, defined here as the ‘willingness to engage in illegal and violent political action’. To this end, changes in sociopolitical attitudes, particularly perceptions of social exclusion and the political actions considered in response, were surveyed before and after the intervention. Hence, radicalisation in this study was not conceptualised as a binary transition from a non-radical to a radical state but rather as a nuanced shift in the degree of willingness to engage in illegal and violent political action.