As in the “totalitarian regime”?
Söder collects Ampel-Watschn for Telegram demand - but the SPD also wants to act
Created: 12/29/2021, 05:40 AM
From: Florian Naumann
Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder attacks the traffic light coalition before the Corona summit.
(Archive photo) © Christof Stache / AFP
Telegram is now considered a meeting place for radicals and radicalized people.
But what do you do?
CSU boss Söder horrified the traffic lights with a push.
But she also has plans.
Munich / Berlin - There have also been riots in Germany during corona protests between the years.
Not only for this reason: the Telegram messenger service remains an issue for politics.
A tricky one on top of that.
Because even if Telegram is a kind of retreat for those willing to use violence and conspiracy theorists - large parts of politics would see a bad and possibly ineffective sign in blocking the service.
With a hypothetical Telegram blockade, Germany could join the ranks of autocratic regimes, it is feared.
The criticism of such mind games is also felt by Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU).
Söder targets Telegram shutdown: FDP and Greens appalled - "Fits into totalitarian regime"
One thing is clear: Telegram plays a role in the planning of sometimes violent protests, but also in fraud efforts in the Corona crisis, as recently shown by chats from Freising near Munich. At the same time, the messenger operators evade the requirement to delete content that is criminally relevant. Söder had recently warned about this - and threatened to take further steps.
"For us it is relatively clear that this beginning silent process on the Internet can be dangerous for the entire democracy and may even lead to an explosion," said the CSU chief at a press conference in December. Anyone who does not cooperate with the authorities and delete the relevant content must expect fines up to blockage or blocking. “There is no pardon,” said Söder. At the weekend he followed up and demanded legal bases for a possible Telegram shutdown. The new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (SPD), also wants to force Telegram to comply with the law - but recently she only spoke of “pressure” that could be built up via the app distributors Apple and Google.
Two points of view that are only separated by a fine line - or the hope that the Telegram operators will give in.
Söder gets into the line of fire for his claim.
"It does not fit into a free constitutional state to simply switch off digital platforms," said FDP parliamentary group leader Konstantin Kuhle now to the
world
.
"This proposal fits into totalitarian regimes, but not into our constitutional order."
Corona riots and Telegram: traffic light struggles for a solution - SPD hopes for "pressure" and give in
The other traffic light parties, the SPD and the Greens, also reported serious concerns. “I am always appalled by such populist demands. Switching off an entire app is a form of state media censorship that we don't want in Germany, ”said Green Tabea Rößner as quoted by the newspaper. They, like the SPD domestic politician Sebastian Hartmann, warned that the result of a lock could be that users simply switch to other services.
Hartmann did not rule out the move completely: He described the ban of Telegram from the app stores as a “last resort”. It seems likely that the SPD - as indicated by Faeser - initially wants to build up "pressure" in the direction of a ban by third parties and simply hopes for success with this step: Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) recently suggested that Apple and Google should do one Talking of Telegram's sales stop. "What happens in the Telegram groups and channels contradicts Apple and Google's compliance guidelines in every respect," he said in December.
FDP Justice Minister Marco Buschmann had meanwhile spoken out in favor of joint European action against the online platform Telegram.
The FDP politician recently told the
Funke media group that
this makes "more of an impression on the operators of Telegram than if each country tried to do it on its own
."
At the same time, Buschmann warned of the "illusion" that hatred and agitation would cease when all the rules against Telegram were enforced.
"Radicals will look for new paths and platforms," the minister predicted.
Rather, one has to find out how and why people radicalized themselves online.
Telegram: Does the Network Enforcement Act apply?
Greens have concerns
Should Telegram not give in, politicians would meanwhile be dependent on new legal regulations. As
confirmed by
the
World
Ministry of Justice
, the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) does not grant “any authorization to prohibit the operator of a social network from operating”. Another imponderability: The Federal Office of Justice takes the view that Telegram is not a pure messenger service, but a social network. This would mean that the NetzDG would apply to the request for the deletion of content. According to the Greens, among others, it is not undoubtedly made clear that the law includes the messenger with its groups of several thousand participants.
According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, supporters of the corona denier scene in particular use the service to spread their messages and to mobilize for demonstrations and events.
Söder warned against Telegram as a "social media darknet"
Söder had expressly emphasized in mid-December that the government was against censorship. At the same time, however, the principle must apply that there should be no freedom for those who oppose freedom. The messenger service Telegram has long since developed into a “social media darknet”, and everyone who is blocked elsewhere will find a platform here. Söder then called on all democrats to protect the constitution. In addition, action must be taken consistently against all initiators. Fast procedures and tough penalties are needed to deter first-time offenders and imitators in particular. On the Internet, not only are politicians affected by hatred, agitation and death threats, scientists and volunteers are also victims.
The subject of hate speech is also relevant under criminal law: According to the Bavarian Justice Commissioner for the prosecution of hate speech, the Munich Chief Public Prosecutor Klaus Hartleb, in 2020 only one of 1650 hate speech investigations was suspended due to insignificance.
In addition to fines or imprisonment, perpetrators also face the withdrawal of their cell phones, provided that the hateful message was released.
The prerequisite is, of course, that the perpetrators are identified.
(
dpa / fn
)
