Uelzen City Embraces TikTok: A New Approach to Local Government
The city of Uelzen, Germany, is leveraging the popular social media platform TikTok to connect with younger residents and showcase the work of its municipal departments. The initiative, highlighted in a recent report by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), aims to modernize the city’s public image and attract applicants for apprenticeships.
Luisa Grimm, a 23-year-old employee within Uelzen’s city hall, leads the TikTok content creation, often utilizing trending video formats to disseminate information. The team, operating within the press and public relations department, produces videos that frequently adopt a comedic approach, increasing their reach on the platform. “The trends are the best way to be played more often on other people’s timelines and secure views,” Grimm explained to NDR.
One recent video featured a city employee impersonating Ralf Schumacher, a former Formula One driver, questioning Grimm about the value of the city’s fleet of vehicles, including a street sweeper. The video concluded with information about available apprenticeships, specifically for road maintenance workers. Ute Krüger, head of press and public relations for the city of Uelzen, stated that TikTok is considered an ideal medium for reaching the target demographic.
The decision to adopt TikTok was not without internal debate. Krüger noted a process of discussion within the city administration and with the city council regarding the suitability of the platform for a municipal government. Concerns centered on data privacy and the protection of young users, issues that have been raised by Germany’s federal data protection commissioner. In response, the city has included a transparent data privacy notice on its TikTok profile, outlining the data collected by the platform.
The city’s TikTok channel, @hansestadt.uelzen, launched to address a common perception of city administrations as “gray and dusty,” according to a post shared on Facebook. The NDR report on Uelzen’s TikTok strategy was filmed on March 9, 2026, and is scheduled for broadcast and online publication as part of the “neu.anders.machen” series, which profiles individuals in Lower Saxony implementing innovative ideas.