At around 6 a.m. this morning, hundreds of people across Germany awoke to police officers at their door. Their only ‘crime’ is to have openly made critical or offensive comments on the internet, many about specific politicians.
This is not a scene from the Third Reich or the German Democratic Republic, but from the Federal Republic in the 21st Century. Officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) intend to make approximately 170 house visits today, to investigate ‘hateful’ or insulting comments made online. Suspects have had their tablets, laptops, and phones confiscated, and their homes searched. This operation has been taking place annually for several years now, to enforce paragraph 188 of the German criminal code. This was amended in 2021 to make it a criminal offence to insult a political figure, punishable by a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
According to the BKA, there were 10,732 crimes related to online hate speech last year—that’s an increase of roughly 34% since 2023. Compared to 2021, the numbers have quadrupled. Naturally, the vast majority of the posts being targeted by police come from the right wing of the political spectrum.
The BKA also encourages citizens to support the police in combating so-called hate crimes. Anyone who encounters hate speech online or becomes a victim of hate speech should report it to the local police. “Report hate posts to social network providers and request them to delete criminal content,” the Federal Criminal Police Office states.
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