Brandenburg’s Chief of Constitutional Protection, Jörg Müller, has called for the prohibition of right-wing extremist chat groups where children and young neo-Nazis connect. Müller stated in an interview with “Stern” and RTL that a constitutionally hostile chat group with an administrator and access requirements falls under the concept of association and should therefore be able to be banned.
Since last summer, the constitutional protection has been monitoring new right-wing extremist youth groups that have organized themselves in the digital space. Many members are extremely young, teenagers or even children, who identify themselves as “Young & Strong”, “Last Defense Wave”, or “German Youth Forward” and connect through chat groups on platforms like Whatsapp, Signal, or Telegram.
Müller warns that in these chat groups, a “turboradicalization” of the youth occurs. “The young Nazis are violent. This ranges from property damage to physical attacks on political opponents to arson. When neo-Nazis commit such acts, they take the danger to the life and health of the victims into account.”
To date, according to Müller, it has been customary that an association to be banned must have a certain organizational structure, such as a board and membership fees. This no longer corresponds to reality, says Müller: “Ban proceedings must adapt to reality.”
Whether a court shares his assessment needs to be determined, said the constitutional protectionist: “But we should not shy away from taking this path and aiming for bans.