In
a coordinated campaign across 14 states, the German police on Tuesday
raided the homes of 36 people accused of hateful postings over social
media, including threats, coercion and incitement to racism.
Most
of the raids concerned politically motivated right-wing incitement,
according to the Federal Criminal Police Office, whose officers
conducted home searches and interrogations. But the raids also targeted
two people accused of left-wing extremist content, as well as one person
accused of making threats or harassment based on someone’s sexual
orientation.
“The
still high incidence of punishable hate posting shows a need for police
action,” Holger Münch, president of the Federal Criminal Police Office,
said in a statement. “Our free society must not allow a climate of
fear, threat, criminal violence and violence either on the street or on
the internet.”
The
raids come as Germans are debating the draft of a new social media law
aimed at cracking down on hate speech, a measure that an array of
experts said was unconstitutional at a parliamentary hearing on Monday.
The measure, championed by Justice Minister Heiko Maas for passage this month, would fine Facebook, Twitter and other outlets up to $53 million (50 million euros) if they failed to remove hate speech and other forms of illegal content.
Under
German law, social media users are subject to a range of punishments
for posting illegal material, including a prison sentence of up to five
years for inciting racial hatred.
Under
the draft statute, networks must offer a readily available complaint
process for posts that may amount to threats, hate speech, defamation,
or incitement to commit a crime, among other offenses.
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