Radicalization tendencies as a result of the corona pandemic – especially in social media.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The chief executive of the Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, has expressed concern about the increasing violence against local politicians during the corona pandemic.
Hatred and frustration have “reached a new, frightening dimension,” Landsberg told the Handelsblatt. Municipal elected officials who are perceived locally as representatives of the state are particularly at risk. Threats, insults, intimidation, but also acts of violence against them have “drastically” increased.
According to current figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which are available to the Handelsblatt, crimes against officials and elected officials have increased by almost 200 percent. In 2021 there were 4458 crimes; In 2017 there were still 1527. The numbers are only preliminary.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed concern about the increase in politically motivated crime against politicians. “The sharp increase in these acts shows a brutalization and contempt for the state and democracy, which makes me very concerned and requires consistent action,” said the SPD politician to the Handelsblatt.
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Faeser wants to ensure that social media cannot be “misused as a fuel for hatred and conspiracy ideologies and that the legal obligations to delete and report calls for murder and similarly dangerous hate spots” are complied with.
Insults, threats and calls for homicide
The BKA attributes the increase, among other things, to radicalization tendencies in social media due to the corona pandemic. The authority is primarily focusing on the messenger service Telegram. Insults, threats and calls for homicide were secured there as part of the corona pandemic.
The head of the Landsberg Association of Cities also sees a problem in social networks as platforms for spreading threats. “The radicalization trend that is emerging is a serious threat to local democracy and our democratic polity as a whole,” he said.
If elected officials were threatened and intimidated, there was a risk that they would leave office or not stand in the next election. “This is particularly to be feared if the threats are also directed against their own families.” It must therefore be made clear to the public again and again that these acts are not trivial offenses, but criminal offenses.
The head of the Association of Cities called on politicians to take action. The relevant penal provisions have been tightened. A significant reduction in criminal offenses has not yet been achieved. “Therefore, criminal prosecution should be further strengthened and consistently expanded against the relevant platforms, such as Telegram,” said Landsberg.
Partial success of the interior minister against Telegram
In this context, he welcomed the fact that the Federal Constitutional Court clarified last Wednesday that the operators of such networks, such as Facebook, are obliged to release user data if there are clear insults or criminal offenses.
Landsberg is alluding to the case of the Green Party politician Renate Künast, who had achieved an important success in the fight against wild abuse on Facebook before the highest German court. The judges in Karlsruhe overturned the decisions of the Berlin civil courts, as they announced last Wednesday. These violated the plaintiff’s personal rights. (Az. 1 BvR 1073/20)
The member of the Bundestag argues that Facebook gives her the data of several users so that she can take legal action against them. Unknowns had described Künast as a “piece of shit” and “old green bastard” and wrote even more drastic and sexist posts.
The case had caused a stir because the Berlin district court had initially decided that Künast, as a politician, had to accept all 22 insults – she had provoked resistance. The judges corrected themselves later.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior has meanwhile achieved partial success in the fight against radicalization and hate speech on the online platform Telegram. “We have made contact with the top management of Telegram,” Minister Faeser said on Twitter on Friday. “In an initial constructive discussion on further cooperation, we agreed to continue and intensify the exchange.” This step is a good success on which we will build.
In Germany, Telegram is the focus of criticism because radical opponents of corona policy organize themselves via the communication service. The platform, founded by the Russian Pawel Durov, is said to be based in Dubai. It’s difficult to get hold of those responsible.
More: The fire accelerator: Why Telegram attracts corona extremists