25 June 2025

Germany: Police Target 170 People for Insulting Politicians Online

Germany can't seem to learn from its history. It's rushing headlong into the same authoritarianism that ruled the country from 1933-1945.

From The European Conservative

By Tamás Orbán

If you call Chancellor Merz a “drunk” or Green leader Robert Habeck an “idiot” in Deutschland, you could get a visit from law enforcement.

JD Vance was right about Europe, or at least Germany, which has been steadily slipping into authoritarianism for some time now, and where freedom of speech will soon become a distant memory if things continue on the current trajectory.

On Wednesday, June 25th, the German federal police carried out a major operation throughout the country, searching the homes and confiscating the electronics of 170 people over social media comments that either fall in the general ‘hate speech’ category or just insult sitting politicians. 

While individuals can be targeted by the authorities at any time, these coordinated country-wide raids are organized once every year since the 2017 adoption of Article 188 of the Criminal Code, which makes insulting politicians punishable to the same degree as online hate speech—with up to three years in prison—while defamation and slander can get you locked up for up to five years.

These so-called ‘action days’ are also supported by several ‘hate crime’ reporting centers throughout the country, often run by left-wing NGOs who file the charges on behalf of offended people and politicians. Thanks to these organizations, the number of registered online hate crimes reached a record level of over ten thousand last year, meaning the number has quadrupled since 2021.

According to officials from the ruling center-right CDU, all this is perfectly normal in a democracy. “Digital arsonists must not be able to hide behind their cell phones or computers,” commented North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister, Herbert Reul. 

“Many people have forgotten the difference between hate and opinion,” the CDU politician went on. “But it’s so simple: What you don’t do in the real world isn’t appropriate digitally either. It’s time for more attitude, both offline and online.” 

In many cases, the ‘crimes’ involved merely entail legitimate criticism of government policies—saying Berlin fails to control migration could be considered Islamophobia or racism, for example—or just the opinions of everyday people of their elected officials.

The most prominent abuser of the law is former vice-chancellor and Green party leader Robert Habeck, who personally reported over 800 citizens for insulting him online. Recently, a 64-year-old pensioner was convicted for calling Habeck “a complete idiot” following a similar house search, while another man was fined €6000 for calling him ‘dirty’ and former Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock ‘stupid.’

And while Chancellor Merz’s CDU was trying to capitalize on the Greens’ abuse of Article 188 during the election campaign, they’ve been weaponizing it just as easily when it suited them.

Merz himself has personally filed charges in several cases, which resulted in home searches. These include the case against a 50-year old nurse who called him an “asshole” and who had to pay a €1,000 fine; a Stuttgart resident who called him a “dirty drunk;” and a wheelchair-bound woman who called him a “Nazi.” 

And while the courts later dismissed all of these cases and ruled that the searches and confiscation of electronics were unlawful, none of them were compensated either for the damages or the criminal fines they were forced to pay.

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