BERLIN — Has milk ever made you think of racist propaganda? Did a kiwi ever strike you as a symbol of transphobia? Probably not. Understandably so: These things usually have nothing to do with each other. That is, unless you stumble onto the wrong accounts on TikTok, Instagram or X. There, a Christmas tree can signal eco-fascist beliefs, and the 100% emoji can stand for so-called “white ancestry.” In these circles, emojis are secret codes for the neo-nazis to express their beliefs.
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Ana Zibelnik and Jakob Ganslmeier live in The Hague, in the Netherlands. They are a well-known artist duo who exhibit photographic and video work on political subjects, often exploring how young people become radicalized. As part of their research, they immersed themselves in online communities of the far right around the world — and came across a growing number of new symbols that looked innocent at first glance.
They began collecting these codes and decoding their meanings. Over the past eight years, Zibelnik and Ganslmeier have become experts in this symbolic language of hate. They’ve come to know a visual vocabulary that operates across borders — in the United States, the Netherlands and Germany alike. A language that now travels worldwide.
These codes have long been referred to as dog whistles. The metaphor is drawn from how dog whistles function: They emit a sound at a frequency humans cannot hear. Dog whistles, in the linguistic sense, are rhetorical signals that have long been tracked in political communication. Among far-right and extremist groups, however, they’re often used to convey messages that might otherwise be criminal — without running the risk of prosecution. In recent years, these coded signals have steadily spread across social media.
Context is everything
Last year, Zibelnik and Ganslmeier set out to specifically track far-right symbols in German-language TikTok accounts —emojis, abbreviations, hashtags, full phrases. Their collection ballooned quickly. In just three days, they identified more than 1,800 accounts pushing dog whistles to mainstream audiences. Their research archive now includes thousands of screenshots and video clips featuring Nazi symbols such as the SS Death’s Head, numerical codes like 444, and supposedly harmless items like glasses of milk, kiwis and Christmas trees, along with phrases like “Never lose your smile.” What follows is a condensed version of the dog whistle glossary the artists have compiled.
“Context is everything when it comes to these codes,” Ganslmeier says in a Zoom interview. If someone drops a milk emoji into a recipe post, it’s not suspicious. But on far-right TikTok profiles, that same emoji might be surrounded by runes, German flags, or number codes like 88. In that context, it takes on a whole different meaning.
The blue heart emoji is one of the more easily recognizable codes. It’s a show of affection posted tens of thousands of times by people expressing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Of course, not everyone posting blue hearts under AfD co-leader Alice Weidel videos knows all the other signals, some of which would be illegal to display. But those codes represent nothing short of hatred.
Whose responsibility?
The raised-arm emoji may look harmless at first, but within neo-Nazi circles, it’s used to mimic the banned Hitler salute. And the phrase “Have a Totally Joyful Day,” often shortened to TJD, stands in these circles for “Total Jewish Death,” a call for genocide.
The companies show little inclination to crack down on far right movements.
Dog whistles like these give those who spread hate a distinct strategic edge: They can state their position, broadcast the ugliest views, and still deny what they meant. They can always say they were talking about something else entirely. That ambiguity shields them from being banned by platforms, or charged by prosecutors.
“Some of the codes keep evolving,” says Deborah Schnabel, director of the Anne Frank Education Center in Frankfurt. She recently released a report on the “TikTok Universe of the (Extreme) Right.” As a psychologist, she criticizes social media platforms for failing to take sufficient action against hate speech, not even against well-established codes that have been publicly documented. That goes for TikTok, she says, but also for Instagram. The companies, she adds, show little inclination to crack down on far right movements. “There’s not enough political pressure.”
Meanings shift constantly
TikTok’s own guidelines state that it is forbidden to promote “hateful ideologies” on the platform, whether the content is “explicit” or “implicit.” But cracking down on emojis is no easy task. After all, not every kiwi carries political weight. Still, the platform’s actions against hate speech appear to lack conviction.
The “Never Lose Your Smile,” for example, is used by neo-Nazis as an allusion to the SS Death’s Head Units’ smiling skull symbol, which is banned in Germany. Type the phrase into TikTok’s search bar and you’ll get a warning: Please check the facts when looking for information about the Holocaust. So, has TikTok managed to suppress this hate code? Not really. Swap out a few letters and search for “slime” instead of “smile,” and there you go: the filter is bypassed. “Never Lose Your Slime” leads to accounts with the SS skull as their profile picture.
Each of these symbols could mean something else by next week.
TikTok has 1.59 billion users worldwide, with over 20 million in Germany. Recently, the number of moderators for German-language content was cut down to 532. ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the platform, doesn’t seem to care too much.
The same goes for tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, who runs Facebook and Instagram. After U.S. President Donald Trump took office, Zuckerberg announced that his company Meta would place greater emphasis on freedom of expression across its platforms. And would step in less frequently.
Zibelnik and Ganslmeier’s glossary cannot offer definitive translations or fixed definitions. That’s because, as they explain, the meanings shift constantly. “Each of these symbols could mean something else by next week.” As slippery as the symbolic language may be, it remains crucial to keep questioning what lies beneath. A simple glass of milk might conceal an entire ideology.
A glossary
?
The milk emoji, paired with the hashtag #rawmilk, can represent the supposed superiority of white people, and “Nordic ancestry” is associated with lactose tolerance. For example, U.S. white nationalist leader Richard Spencer wrote years ago on his X profile, combined with the frosted glass emoji: “I am very tolerant… lactose tolerant.”
?
The kiwi serves as a symbol to express transphobia. Its origins are unclear, but reference is often made to the kiwi plant’s bisexual nature.
Have a Totally Joyful Day
This term is also used in the acronym TJD, which stands for “Total Jewish Death.”
Have a Totally Marvelous Day
This version stands for “Total Muslim Death,” abbreviated to TMD. In another version, the phrase is directed not at Muslims but at migrants.
Have a Totally Nice Day
Here the wording is aimed at black people, “Nice” stands for the “N-word” in English.
?
The Christmas tree emoji, also called “evergreen,” appears with phrases like “embrace nature.” In certain contexts, it serves as a symbol of recognition for supporters of eco-fascist ideologies. Racist ideas are blended with a romanticized, often nationalistic reference to nature that ties in with blood-and-soil ideas.
✈️
The airplane emoji is often used online to call for more deportations from Germany.
?
While the symbol is usually used to indicate complete agreement, for example in comment columns, right-wing extremists also use it to mean “pure white ancestry.”
1488
The number 14 refers to the “14 words” slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,” which was used by an American neo-Nazi terrorist, and the “88” stands for “Heil Hitler.”
?
Usually a symbol for “everything is fine,” the gesture is used in the far-right scene to form “W” (three fingers up) and “P” (thumb and index finger and rest of the hand) for ” White Power.”
Well Well Well
This essentially harmless expression comes from pop culture, but it’s now often being used, especially on TikTok, as a racist or antisemitic dog whistle to signal that one isn’t surprised by something. For example, you’ll see it being used in the comment section of an article containing news of a violent act done by migrants.
? ☪️
Symbolizes an anti-Muslim attitude on some profiles.
? ✡️
Symbolizes an antisemitic attitude on some profiles.
? ?️?
Symbolizes an anti-LGBTQ+ attitude on some profiles.
Now Yuo See
This English expression “Now you see” is misspelled. The phrase has been around for some time in many other contexts, but its recent use often implies “being right” or “enlightened” to reinforce one’s ideology, as when sharing an image or statistic that supposedly proves that, for example, a far-right activist was right about a particular issue or spoke the “truth.”
⚡️⚡️
The two lightning emojis are often used as a replacement for SS runes.
?
The wolf emoji (like the eagle) symbolizes strength or a reference to Germanic myths.
Ted Was Right
The term is an allusion to the U.S. terrorist Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber. His manifesto is often quoted by right-wing extremists, especially so-called eco-fascists. Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik also took inspiration from it.
??
The neo-Nazi code 88 or HH stands for “Heil Hitler,” as the letter H is the eighth in the alphabet.
??❤️
A combination of black, white, and red hearts (sometimes squares) that refers to the colors of the historic flag of the German Empire. While the black, red and gold flag represents democratic Germany, the black, white and red flag is associated with German nationalism. The blue heart is often used by right-wing accounts to signal sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Never Lose Your Smile
The phrase is an allusion to the SS Death’s Head Units’ smiling skull symbol, which is banned in Germany. This signaled an ideological affiliation with Nazi ideology.
?♂️?♀️
These right arm raising emojis are also used as a symbol for the Hitler salute.
?
The sheep emoji is used to belittle those who think differently and to point to people who simply follow the rules and are not able to think for themselves.
? ??
The eagle and the German flag are often used together (frequently in usernames and profile descriptions) to express nationalistic tendencies. While not every use of the eagle emoji or the German flag can be interpreted as nationalistic, they take on a distinct meaning when combined with various other symbols, such as two lightning bolt emojis or numeric codes.
444
The number 444 is used as a code in right-wing extremist and nationalist circles in Germany and stands for “Germany for the Germans” (which is “Deutschland den Deutschen” in German), as D is the fourth letter of the alphabet.
All Lives Matter
The slogan refers to Black Lives Matter, a movement that originated in the United States and campaigns against violence against Black people and people of color. The new wording is intended to deliberately distract from the original themes of racism and inequality.
#mutzurwahreit
The slogan, meaning “courage to tell the truth,” served as an early campaign slogan for the AfD. It alluded to the party’s alleged ability to speak uncomfortable truths and break taboos. The slogan became a frequently used hashtag.
