Photo: @Bundeskanzler on X, 25 October 2024
The German political establishment wants to impose even stricter punishments on ordinary citizens who dare to criticise the ruling elite on social media.
Lower Saxony’s Justice Minister, Kathrin Wahlmann, a social democrat, has presented a proposal that would give prosecutors more leeway in prosecuting “insults” that target politicians. The proposed amendment would make it easier for the judiciary to take more comprehensive action, and the penalties imposed would be harsher.
Wahlmann said she found some of the “disgusting hate comments” that politicians have had to endure “unbearable.” The current rules have “not proven to be sufficiently effective,” she added.
Wahlmann’s comments come after a series of incidents where ordinary citizens were harassed by law enforcement for simply criticising leading politicians in social media posts.
A 64-year-old pensioner’s house was raided by police, after a complaint by Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who was upset that the pensioner had called him an imbecile on social media. A woman had her house searched and was fined €900 for sharing a meme that made fun of leading government politicians. The editor-in-chief of the conservative news website Deutschland-Kurier was heavily fined and could even face prison time for mocking Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in a couple of satirical memes that he shared on his X account.
The prosecutors had taken action based on a law introduced by the previous Angela Merkel-led German government, according to which politicians have the right to file a criminal complaint if they believe that they have been the target of defamatory comments in relation to their official duties. Someone found guilty of such a crime can be fined or imprisoned for up to three years.
In the three year-period since the law came in, more than 1,300 citizens in Germany have faced legal proceedings for allegedly insulting public officials.
The cases highlight how German politicians are unable to handle criticism, and that authorities seem incapable of making a distinction between satire and real crime.
Instead of apologising to the distraught citizens who have been harassed by law enforcement, the government wants to crack down even harder on people whose views they find “unbearable.” Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has called for tighter regulations surrounding social media, saying that “freedom of expression” must abide by “the rules of decency and democracy.”
Wahlmann claims that the “harsh tone” politicians are being targeted with is leading to “more and more people not getting involved in politics for fear of hatred.” Her latest proposal would remove the legal pre-condition for an insult to be punishable, which is that the insult has to be in connection with the politicians’ official duties.