Robert Habeck, Germany’s vice chancellor and economy minister, does not think he needs to apologise after a 64-year-old pensioner’s home was raided by police due to a criminal complaint lodged by the minister. Instead, Habeck now wants to regulate—i.e., censor—social media so that he and his party do not have to face negative comments.
German politicians’ inability to handle criticism—and German authorities’ inability to make a distinction between real crime and satire—are becoming more and more evident.
As we previously reported, the home of Bavarian pensioner Stefan Niehoff was raided, and his mobile phone and computer confiscated, last week, following a criminal complaint made by Green party politician Robert Habeck. Niehoff’s “crime” was that he had posted a meme on his X account, which ridiculed the minister as being an ‘imbecile.’
Speaking to public broadcaster ARD, Habeck did not apologise, but vented his anger at the man, who, he said, had posted antisemitic and racist content on social media, and that the ‘imbecile’ jibe had only been the “trigger” that prompted Habeck to file the complaint.
However, according to Apollo News, Habeck’s claim is false, because the public prosecutor’s office, who had ordered the house search, said in a press release that the raid had been carried out exclusively because of the ‘imbecile’ post. According to the prosecutors, the man’s goal was “to defame Robert Habeck in general and to make his work as a member of the federal government more difficult.”
The prosecutor’s office does add, however, that the 64-year-old man could be suspected of “incitement to hatred” due to an image he had posted online earlier this year, on which a man wearing a Nazi uniform can be seen, with the following caption: “Germans, don’t buy from Jews.”
According to Apollo News, the meme had been a satirical response to a real-life appeal by a leftist organisation which had called for the boycott of German stores that had ties with right-wing opposition party AfD. Obviously, neither Habeck nor the prosecutor’s office understood the joke.
Under a law introduced by the previous Angela Merkel-led German government, 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 sent to prison for up to three years.
Green politicians have been making use of this legislation: Habeck and his Green party colleague, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have filed over 1,300 criminal complaints, mostly due to perceived online insults. The vice chancellor told ARD that he had decided at the beginning of the current government’s tenure that he would report insults and threats.
However, it is not only the case of the Bavarian pensioner that has attracted attention in recent days. It has now been revealed by German media that another citizen of Bavaria, this time a woman, had her house searched last year and her mobile phone and her son’s laptop confiscated. This was because she had shared a meme on social media that made fun of leading government politicians.
The image shows Habeck, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Finance Minister Christian Lindner each making a statement. Each statement was a satirical interpretation of actual statements the four politicians had made, but the authorities interpreted the meme as a criminal offence. The woman accepted a fine of €900 in order for the case not to go to court.
Both these cases paint a terrifying picture of how freedom of speech and freedom of expression are being suppressed in a country ruled by leftist politicians whose actions resemble those of an authoritarian state, not that of a democracy.
Robert Habeck wants to go even further and is demanding tighter regulations surrounding social media. At the Green party’s recent conference, Habeck said that “freedom of expression is a precious asset, it is the core, the heart of democracy,” but that it must abide by “the rules of decency and democracy.” He added that the EU’s Digital Services Act, which itself has been criticised as being a social media censorship tool, would be the solution to “remedying” the situation.
Habeck’s words echo those of Annalena Baerbock, who recently called on the European Commission to adopt new rules for dealing with “disinformation” on social networks.
