Fake news and conspiracy theories: Söder warns of "Corona-RAF, for which violence would be acceptable"
Created: 02/20/2022, 06:14
By: Katarina Amtmann
Markus Söder calls for the shutdown of Telegram in Germany.
© Frank Hoermann/Imago
Fake news and conspiracy theories are a problem in the corona pandemic, and the focus is also on Telegram.
Markus Söder therefore makes a request.
Munich – Markus Söder* found clear words and warned of a consolidating circle of a “Corona-RAF” in the “lateral thinker” scene.
The number of demonstrators against the Corona measures is declining, said the CSU* boss in an interview with the Würzburg
Mainpost.
"Unfortunately, some people got lost in a world of conspiracy theories during the pandemic," Söder continued. "In the end, we must not get a 'Corona-RAF' for which violence would be acceptable."
Corona RAF?
Söder warns against Telegram - and advocates switching off the platform in Germany
According to Söder, it is therefore important to take consistent action against anti-democratic tendencies.
“Platforms like Telegram create closed bubbles of conspiracy theorists.
If increasingly absurd fake news is sold there as truth, there is a risk that individuals will develop a supposed moral right to resist.”
He therefore advocated switching off the Telegram platform in Germany.
"What is generally missing on the part of the federal government is decisive legal action against platforms like Telegram."
Corona deniers on Telegram: what to do against fake news?
Söder advocates switching off Telegram: "Channel of uncertainty and fake news"
Bavaria's Prime Minister also told
Mainpost
: "The most effective way in Germany would be to switch off Telegram - it's called geoblocking - because unfortunately by far the most hate speech is spread via this platform." Telegram acts as a letterbox company in Dubai and is hardly accessible.
“In other parts of the world, Telegram may be a channel for democracy.
For us it is a channel of uncertainty and fake news.”
Söder warned of a kind of "Corona-RAF" last year.
At that time he said: "There is always a danger that larger movements will develop into small protest groups, which will ultimately form a radical core that can become a terrorist cell."
(kam/dpa)