Berlin – German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday took her campaign trail online with a live-streamed interview as she fields questions from YouTube stars in an appeal to young voters.
Four prominent YouTube personalities, with a collective audience of around three million subscribers, are set to quiz the chancellor less than six weeks before national elections.
Federal elections will be held in Germany on Sept. 24 to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag.
The new Bundestag will have to elect a Chancellor with an absolute majority of its members, who will in turn form an new government.
Her interviewers include 21-year-old Ischtar Isik, who video-blogs about beauty and lifestyle topics; and 28-year-old AlexiBexi or Alexander Boehm who posts comical German-language renditions of English pop songs.
They are expected to ask questions on a number of issues, particularly those that interest younger voters, such as the environment, animal rights, proposals for a universal income and the legalisation of cannabis.
Wednesday’s interview is not the first time that Merkel has taken to the popular video platform to field questions from youngsters.
In 2015, she was interviewed by German YouTube star LeFloid in a video that has been watched today 5.5 million times.
“The interview is a clever strategy,” said Patrick Donges, an expert in communications research at Leipzig University.
“The chancellor is reaching a young target group that is not particularly interested in politics and that is difficult to reach with traditional campaigning methods.”