Influencing Under the Taliban: Ethics vs. Clicks

Welcome to Simple German News. Each day we bring you real-world news. Explain clearly and simply in German at an A2 level. Listen, learn, and improve your German while staying informed. This podcast is brought to you by the Linguas Simplify app. Learn languages by reading real-world articles Simplified with AI to your level. Let's start today's story. Hello. Welcome to our new research. Hello. We're looking at a very interesting story today. That's not difficult. Listen to it. We're analyzing articles about influencers today. Do you know these influencers travel to Afghanistan? Yes, really. We're explaining why this is important today. Exactly. The title is "Influencer in Afghanistan". Is that good? So, cut off. Click, like and big red bookstores. Really. Many content creators seek attention. Do you know that means attention to English? Yes, attention. They want clicks and followers. Exactly. For that, they travel to dangerous places. dangerous. That means dangerous. Really dangerous. They make videos in Afghanistan. And they use red bookstores. They use extreme words. For example, the worst country on earth. Or the most cruel travel. Yes. But why do they do that? Good question. Platforms like Instagram want extreme content. That's like a zoo. The animals are dangerous. Exactly. Like a zoo. But people want to do a selfie with the bear. Is that normal for the internet? Yes, so attention is the most important goal. A goal is a goal. A goal. Okay. The platforms are not helping organizations. They just want to click. We come to episode 2. Photos with the Taliban. Exactly. Some influencers are posing with the fighters of the Taliban. Wahnsinn. These fighters have heavy weapons. And influencers say they are all super-nets. Yes, that's crazy. Then they visit beautiful places. For Instagram? Right. And they say, cool, that I was here. Exactly. But the country has a hard regime. A regime. Yes, that's a problem. But it's not always good to travel. How do you mean that? So if we travel, we learn different people. Isn't that positive? Yes and no. In the comments there is a lot of criticism. Why? The users say, the influencers do weapons. The weapons for the Taliban regime. Oh, I understand. The regime wants tourists. Right. But the country has no right to people. The videos show this problem. So, cut off three. The ethics of the beautiful pictures. We have here the philosopher Claudia Paganini. She studies media ethics. Okay. What does she say? She says. The videos show just nice pictures. Only the nice sides. The harm is the real situation. A short video shows not the dictatorship. Dictatorship. The viewer often understands that. Exactly. That's hard. But why is there no rules? Bloggers write about travel. Yes, that's true. Travel bloggers have rules. The expert Johannes Klaus says that. Ah, okay. Which rules? She is unaccountable. But influencers have no rules. That's bad. Paganini wants a gouteseegl. That's a goal of quality. A gouteseegl for good videos? But the platforms don't want that, right? No. The algorithm loves entertainment. An algorithm on English algorithm. He loves no journalism. The story of Zoe Stephens. Yes, Zoe is a content creator. She was often in Afghanistan. And she was very long there, right? Exactly. She makes videos about the situation of women there. That's interesting. She shows culture, food and history. She does the same as the other influencers. But has she got a success? Does she also get millions of clicks? No. Zoe has a lot less followers. Why? She doesn't make any sense. The algorithm doesn't have to be so strong. Ah, that's a shame. Yes. But she shows a different picture of the people there. The problem with the truth. There is still a difficulty. Zoe works in Afghanistan as a travel guide. Okay. She uses self-sensual. That means self-sensorship. She doesn't say anything? Exactly. She wants to travel back to the country. That shows a big dilemma. Yes. For all travel in such countries. But if Zoe is self-sensual, then the video is really honest. Then we see the truth. That's very complicated. What do you mean? One side is important to show the culture and the people. Yes, you don't have to politicize everything. Really. Another side forgets you get the problem easily. So everyone has to look at the videos critical questions. Exactly like that. Everyone has to be critical. Great. Let's come to the watch out. We learned important words today. The first word is the attention. That means attention. Then we had danger. That means danger. The third word is the regime. In English, "regime". Then the dictatorship. That is the dictatorship. And the algorithm. That means the algorithm. Then the good sign. That is a goal of quality. And the last word. The self-sensual. Okay. Now the slow repeat. Let's hear exactly. We are almost the main story together. They want to click and follow many influencers after notice. Some influencers push with the fight of Taliban. They say, "All are super-naked." But they don't show the dictatorship. The platforms want extreme content. No rules. The other does the same. They show the culture and the women. But they use self-sensual. That's why you always have to be critical. Really. And here is a last thank you. Exactly. A last, provocant thank you. If you see the next time a beautiful travel video, ask what I don't actually see here. And who is the real price for these beautiful pictures? It's full of real-life texts and helpful exercises designed for your level. See you next episode. Keep listening and keep learning.