A German government ministry is considering the possibility of issuing further bans, similar to the one that was recently overturned, following a court ruling on a magazine deemed to have extreme right-wing leanings.
The Ministry of the Interior is reviewing the court’s decision and is looking for potential lessons to be learned from the outcome. According to a ministry spokesperson, the ban on the magazine “Compact” was a viable and possible measure to counter extremist efforts.
The magazine’s editor, Jürgen Elsässer, has previously announced that he may seek damages in the millions of euros from the German government if the ban is lifted. The ministry, however, remained cautious in its response, describing the question of damages as hypothetical.
The court’s ruling criticized the publication’s content, arguing that some articles, such as the “Remigrationskonzept” which was disseminated without critical examination, violated human dignity. The judges also found that the magazine was not just a media product, but a part of a movement and therefore, the association law was applicable.
The ministry had presented examples of the magazine’s content, but the court deemed them insufficient to justify a ban. Some statements could be interpreted as exaggerated criticism and even polemical power criticism is ultimately protected by the freedom of opinion, the judges concluded.
The former Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, had initially banned the magazine’s operation in July 2024, citing that it served as a mouthpiece for the extreme right-wing scene. The new minister, Dobrindt, has continued the process.