Two months after Friedrich Merz was sworn in as Germany’s tenth Chancellor, disinformation claiming he’s set to impose a so-called “solidarity tax” to fund “foreign countries” such as Ukraine and Israel is spreading on TikTok.
Euroverify detected several examples of the claim, first spotted by fact-checkers at Correctiv, being amplified in AI-generated videos in recent weeks.
While some of the accounts spreading the allegation present themselves as “satirical”, others relay the disinformation without any disclaimer, sowing confusion among TikTok users.
Our team also detected similar false narratives initially being labelled as satire but eventually being amplified across the platform. These included unfounded claims that the German government would ban cash payments in supermarkets, conduct home visits to monitor workers’ sick leave and cut pensions to fund EU arms procurement programmes.
Merz’s coalition government – composed of his centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) – was installed in May, almost three months after parliamentary elections.
A study found in the run-up to that vote that German users of TikTok, the social media platform owned by Chinese company Bytedance, are more likely to be climate sceptics, less critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and believe that the Chinese political system is better than democracy.
No evidence Germany will raise taxes to fund countries at war
The Merz-led government, whilst seen as a firm ally of both Ukraine and Israel, has no plans to raise the so-called “solidarity tax” to finance those countries as TikTok users claim.
Some of those users have alleged the government will “automatically deduct money from wages” as of 1 August, “without prior approval, directly through payroll".
“The withheld money is automatically transferred abroad at the end of the month to strengthen political partnerships and finance local aid,” the TikTok videos detected by Euroverify falsely say, adding that the surcharge could “increase significantly” in the coming months.
A federal government spokesperson confirmed to Correctiv that such claims were not true and lacked “any basis".
The disinformation plays on the concept of solidarity surcharge, or Solidaritätszuschlag, which was introduced in Germany to fund the costs of German unification.
It stands at 5.5% and is raised as an additional fee on income tax, capital gains tax and corporate tax. Around 10% of the highest earners, as well as businesses and investors, pay the surcharge today, meaning most of the German population is exempt.
Satire sparks disinformation
Euroverify detected a raft of similar videos on TikTok – bearing the same style and techniques – which spread other false claims about the Merz-led government’s policies.
These included allegations that from 1 January 2026, German supermarkets will only accept card payments and that cash will be rejected. There is no truth to these claims.
Others claimed Merz would introduce “home visits” to “monitor” people on sick leave from work.
While there are reports of an increasing number of private companies based in Germany requesting that agencies check up on employees suspected of calling in sick while fit to work, there is no evidence that the German government is looking to introduce such visits.
