Merkel unmoved by her first ever YouTube interview
July 14, 2015
German chancellor Merkel famously exposed herself to ridicule during Barack Obama's visit in 2013, when she called the Internet "uncharted territory," provoking a flood of memes and mocking comments from the German-speaking Web.
Still, the Internet-shy chancellor has gone where no German leader went before - to her first ever YouTube interview, posted online on Monday night. Her interlocutor was Florian Mundt, more commonly known as German YouTube sensation LeFloid, asking questions submitted by subscribers to his channel.
Even so, there were no great surprises during the much-hyped talk. For example, Angela Merkel called for an end of discrimination against same-sex couples, but once again defined marriage as "the cohabitation of man and woman."
"I am for registered civil partnerships. I am for our not having any discrimination in tax legislation. And wherever we still find discrimination, we will continue to dismantle it," she said.
On the issue of marijuana legalization, Merkel told Mundt she was "very strict" and that she only supported consuming cannabis for medical purposes.
The tattooed 27-year old also talked to the chancellor about a range of political topics, including NSA spying, an upcoming EU free trade agreement with the US, and the way the Internet can be used to express racism and intolerance.
Too soft for YouTube?
LeFloid asked his 2.6 million subscribers to supply him with questions before he went to "chat a bit with Angela." Both he and the government insist that he had had free reign in selecting questions and editing the 30-minute talk. However, his conversation with the German leader was notably milder in tone than the political commentary that made him famous on YouTube.
Many of the reactions to his interview accuse him of not pressing Merkel on any of the critical issues and point out that the German chancellor provided more or less the same answers she usually does with professional journalists.
Despite the criticism, the interview remains a digital milestone for German politicians, whose track record when it comes to reaching Internet users has so far been less than stellar. The German government's official YouTube channel only has 13,000 subscribers, and Merkel's weekly podcasts average between 300 and 3,000 clicks.
In the wake of LeFloid's video, another German YouTube star Bianca Heinicke recently announced she wants to interview Sigmar Gabriel, German Economy Minister and leader of the second-largest political party in Germany. As matters currently stand among the Social Democrats, Gabriel would seem a possible - even likely - challenger to Merkel in Germany's next general election in 2017.
dj/msh (dpa, AFP)