A recent episode of the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes reported on house searches in Germany carried out in the name of “hate speech” online. The CBS team accompanied the German police during the search, while three Lower Saxony state prosecutors explained the legal basis for the authorities’ actions against citizens who allegedly spread hate online.
One of the show’s viewers, US Vice President J.D. Vance, seemed unimpressed by the proceedings and drew parallels to George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984”. On the platform X, Vance wrote about the German authorities’ approach, stating, “Someone being offended is not a crime and criminalizing speech will be a real burden for European-American relations. This is Orwellian and everyone in Europe and the US must reject this madness.”
Vance had previously criticized the restriction of free speech in Europe during a speech at the Munich Security Conference, saying that there is no security if one is afraid of the opinions of one’s own people. He also criticized the construction of “walls of silence” which he described as undemocratic.
In contrast, Lower Saxony’s Justice Ministry rejects the criticism of Vance and the authorities, saying that hate and incitement online remain a real threat to their free and democratic society. The ministry stated that more and more people who value constructive discussions are leaving the internet, which is “poison for the diversity of opinions, poison for open discussions and thus also poison for our democracy.”
The CBS segment showed the Lower Saxony Central Office for Combating Hate Crimes in the Internet working together with the federal government and other German states, the ministry emphasized.
In contrast, FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki wrote on X, “These searches undermine the trust in the effective application of the Basic Law. Whoever can still sleep peacefully after seeing such images has not understood the value of freedom of opinion for the democratic community.”
Kubicki also described the searches as “authoritarian outgrowths”. Vance had previously compared the EU’s censorship practices to those of authoritarian regimes during his speech in Munich. In response, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius labeled Vance’s statement as “unacceptable”, indirectly confirming the accusation that certain opinions are not considered acceptable in Berlin and Brussels.