Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics

Merkel Backs Crackdown on Free Speech On Social Media Sites

Angela MerkelGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel long ago established herself as a menace to free speech, particularly in her decision to first apologize to authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a satirical poem and then approve the prosecution of the comedian is a shocking and chilling disgrace. Now, she is throwing her support behind a crackdown on “hate speech” on social media like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube — radically expanding the already broad scope of government regulation of speech.

Merkel declared “I support efforts by Justice Minister Heiko Maas and Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere to address hate speech, hate commentaries, devastating things that are incompatible with human dignity, and to do everything to prohibit it because it contradicts our values.”

“Incompatibility with human dignity”? That is a standard that virtually defies definition. It would leave the government in the position to determine who is insulting “human dignity.”

Merkel is also threatening social media companies to get rid of “fake news” or risk a government crackdown. Merkel appears to fear that social media bots could influence German elections after President Obama flagged the role of fake news in the Trump election. Merkel insisted that such postings must be dealt with by the companies or the government will step in.

We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in France (here and here and here and here and here and here) and England ( here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). Much of this trend is tied to the expansion of hate speech and non-discrimination laws. We have seen comedians targeted with such court orders under this expanding and worrisome trend. (here and here).

Merkel is clearly “all in” on the crackdown on free speech. The question is whether the German people will or can reverse this trend against this defining right of fundamental civil liberties and human rights.

What do you think?

68 thoughts on “Merkel Backs Crackdown on Free Speech On Social Media Sites”

  1. Pingback: Merkel Backs Crackdown on Free Speech On Social Media Sites | nebraskaenergyobserver

  2. I see nothing wrong with appropriate limits to “free speech”. Ever heard of shouting “Fire” in crowded theatre? Defamation?

    1. It is coming and my guess is you will support these laws as long as they are only used to shut down conservative ideas and speakers.

    2. Ben Hyatt – yelling ‘fire in a crowded theatre’ had/has to do with the number of deaths attributed to stomping people to death to get out of some major theatre fires. And defamatory speech is very limited. You cannot defame famous people unless you can prove they
      knew it was incorrect and said it anyway.

    3. I suspect you are not very sharp on the difference between causation and correlation.

  3. Canada and I believe seventeen EU nations (including Germany of course,) imprison persons for the thought crime of disagreeing w/the western approved definition of the Judaic holocaust.

    If/when a Nation/State institutes thought crimes like the above, one can not be too surprised to see criminal statutes such as those described in this article.

    1. And there are serious academicians like Alexander Tsesis, who would love to see such laws adopted in the U. S.

      Antonio

      1. In the last week NPR interviewed Deborah Lipstadt, Professor of Holocaust Studies at a US University. Without checking, I’m quite sure she pangs for Federal Thought Crime Re. Judaic Holocaust Definition.

        It’s always “for the chillun’, don’t ya know?”

        The notion that Judaics are more deserving of the term “holocaust” than any other race adds to the long list of pure, racist, bigoted Judaic tripe. The Russians and others suffered more losses. Judaic claim to exclusive use of the word “holocaust” reminds of a falsely copied line from Schindler’s List. Producer Spielberg received accolades for including the alleged line from the Talmud, “If you save one life, you saved the whole world.”

        Problem is Spielberg lied (no surprise). Here’s the true Rabbinical phrase, the purest hate speech known to mankind: “If you save one Judaic life, you saved the whole world.”

        Too brutal and hateful for even stupid and gullible goyim, so of course, w/Rabbinical blessings I’m sure, Schindler deleted the word “Judaic.” The true, original phrase is a good book end w/this Talmudic gem: “Even the best of the gentiles deserve only death.” Go ahead and check, Rabbis don’t even deny this verse. In fact, they have concocted justifications for their gentile sycophants.

  5. The line between an international dictatorship by corporate interests and concern for “our protection” gets thinner, and thinner and thinner and…

    Obama’s legacy, but credits to Merkel abound.

      1. I always wondered why Blair, who I’d always taken as a champion for the working class and who I’d always see on PBS arguing like the workmen he represented against the monied interests in Parliament, became George Bush’s left hip during the Iraq War. I was a slow learner.

        Randyjet, here’s another journalist outside the MSM, a Jill Stein voter being treated like one at the Democratic National Convention this year:

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