The police were on Wednesday in several states in action to combat illegal hate mailing on the Internet. In a total of 21 cases there were, among other things, apartment searches or interrogations. This was reported by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Wiesbaden, which coordinated the action. "Threats, coercion or incitement in the net are no trivial offenses," it said. Depending on the offense up to five years imprisonment threatened.
At the nationwide fifth "action day against hate mailings" involved investigators in Hesse, Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, the Saarland and Saxony.
According to the BKA, the number of detected cases of hate crime connected with the Internet has decreased slightly - from 2458 cases in 2017 to 1962 last year. However, this is no reason for the all-clear, it says in the press release: "Many criminally relevant posts are not displayed or the security authorities do not note because they are expressed in closed forums and discussion groups."
In the case of hate mailing, the offense was 80 percent incitement, the Federal Criminal Police Office wrote on Twitter. It is also determined for insult or coercion and threat. In addition, officials encouraged users to report to the police and report hate mailings to social network operators in appropriate cases.