Going where it hurts

December 2024: content creator Marcant is making a plan. He wants to attend demonstrations by the far-right scene in Germany – to go “where it hurts”, as he puts it. His aim is not to report on them, but to start conversations. He records his encounters and contextualises them with facts. After just over a year, his videos are viewed millions of times on social media.

Not opinions but facts

April 2025 in Berlin: Marcant talks to 16-year-old Felix, who says in the video that he’s a supporter of the far-right. Felix claims there is “evidence” of how many people “actually” died in the Holocaust – and says that’s his opinion. Marcant contradicts him, stressing that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. The video then cuts to Marcant presenting sources that support this. They are verifiable facts, not opinions.

Marcant is in his early 20s and has been active on social media for several years. Since 2021, he has been commenting critically on how far-right groups organise on digital platforms. In one of his first YouTube videos, he responds to a TikTok by the right-wing populist AfD party. He is troubled by the fact that far-right voices are often the loudest on social media, while counter-voices are often absent. His aim is to fill that gap with content of his own: “Not just talking nonsense, but actually contributing something.”

That’s why he regularly attends far-right events with a microphone and camera, speaking calmly to participants and pushing back when lies are spread. He’s often recognised, and a lot of people refuse to speak to him. Others do – like Felix. At first, Marcant says, he was shocked by such statements, but if you hear them again and again, they eventually stop surprising you. In his videos, Marcant stresses that there’s no point in attacking people verbally. What matters more is opening up new perspectives and showing ways to expose lies.

Why it pays to start a conversation

In Felix’s case, Marcant succeeded in helping him get out of the far-right scene. Five months after they met at the demonstration, they talk to each other again. Felix says it was an eye-opener for him to hear what he said in the interview. And Felix is not the only one: Marcant receives lots of messages reporting similar experiences. If he can help some people get out of it, he says, the effort is worth it.