Germans Appear to Flout German Law and Share Photos of Alleged Voting Ballots Supporting Far-Right AfD Party

German voters are sharing photos of their alleged ballots to social media, showing that they voted for the German far-right party AfD, endorsed by billionaire Trump-ally Elon Musk.

The center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged victorious on Sunday following the results of the election with 28.5% of the vote, indicating that the party's leader, Friedrich Merz, will be Germany's next chancellor.

The Musk-endorsed far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party obtained 19.8% of the vote, pulling in higher numbers than expected, doubling the amount of votes obtained from the last election.

In accordance with German law, it is illegal to take photos inside of a polling booth while voting in an election. Depending on local legislation, it may even be illegal to take pictures anywhere inside the polling station. Such photographs can be considered a violation of the secrecy of the ballot and hence punishable by law.

The algorithms of social media apps in Germany, including TikTok and X have demonstrated a shift towards right-wing content, according to a study conducted by human rights NGO Global Witness.

"Non-partisan social media users in Germany are seeing right-leaning content more than twice as much than left-leaning content in the lead up to the country's federal elections," said the study.

"At a time when Big Tech companies are increasingly under scrutiny for their influence on major elections, investigators studied what content TikTok, X and Instagram's algorithms were recommending to politically interested yet non-partisan users during the election build up," they continued.

The AfD Party also has the strongest social media presence of all parties, especially on TikTok, according to a study published by the Anne Frank Educational Center.

"We are observing masses of openly right-wing extremist symbols and codes on TikTok," said Deborah Schnabel, the director of the Anne Frank Educational Center.

"Time and again, accounts from the AfD or from the party's environment are involved" in such content, Schnabel continued.

Party leader Alice Weidel is one of the nation's top five political influencers on TikTok.

"On TikTok, the AfD presents itself as a caretaker and champion of young people—democratic parties have not yet found any good answers to this," said Schnabel.