On Wednesday, February 25, German law enforcement carried out a nationwide “Day of Action Against Online Hate” involving raids and interrogations in connection with 140 cases of suspected “dissemination of criminal content…in particular on social media platforms”. In a statement, Germany’s top law enforcement agency, the BKA, noted that: “Suspects were questioned and digital evidence was seized – for instance, smartphones – during the actions. Posts and comments [of the suspects] were assessed by multiple instances in advance and deemed to be illegal.”
The BKA statement, which was posted on LinkedIn and Facebook, notes further that the investigations involved charges of “incitement of hatred” (Volksverhetzung), use of “unconstitutional”, i.e. Nazi symbols, and “insult”. These are the classic German “hate speech” charges. The “incitement” law specifically targets incitement of hatred against ethnic, racial or religious groups. Germany’s so-called lèse-majesté law provides public officials heightened protection against “insult”.
According to the BKA, around two-thirds of the cases involved “politically-motivated right-wing criminality” (PMK-rechts): A classification that, like that of “right-wing extremism”, carries a strong connotation of Nazi-style racism in German usage.
In November 2024, the then 64-year-old German retiree Stefan Niehoff had his home in rural Bavaria raided on a previous nationwide “day of action” against alleged online “hate”. Niehoff’s tablet was seized by the police, and he would subsequently be charged with all the above-mentioned crimes under German law: “Insult”, “incitement” and “use” of Nazi symbols. The “insult” and “incitement” charges would eventually be dropped, but he would be found guilty on four charges of “using” Nazi symbols.
But, though he may well have insulted Germany’s then Economics Minister Robert Haebeck by retweeting a meme that jokingly referred to him as a “professional moron”, an examination of his other supposedly incriminating tweets makes clear that Niehoff did not engage in any “hateful” incitement but only cited people who did, in order precisely to criticise discrimination. Moreover, far from being anything like a Nazi, the very evidence on which he was convicted makes clear that he was precisely anti-Nazi: He never in fact “used” Nazi symbols but largely just retweeted photos of actual historical Nazis using them and did so, as the court itself acknowledged, with critical intent. For the details, see my previous discussions of the Niehoff case, here and here.
Stefan Niehoff passed away in January, reportedly after having suffered a stroke. He was appealing his conviction at the time of his death. The only reason his case became well-known is because he was brave and combative enough to go public with the charges against him. A second case that got some publicity recently, involving another retiree who called Chancellor Friedrich Merz “Pinocchio”, was predictably and quickly dismissed.
But there are in fact thousands of such cases in Germany, almost none of which get reported even in the German media and the details of which remain shrouded in mystery. According to the latest available BKA data, there were 10,732 cases of “criminal hate postings” in 2024 (up from 2,411 in 2021).
The raid on Niehoff’s home took place on the 11th nationwide “day of action” against alleged online “hate”. The latest “day of action” was already the thirteenth such event. The first took place already in July 2016, one year after the German government had launched a campaign against online “hate speech” and just two months after the European Commission had established its “Code of Conduct” on the same subject.
Each of the days of action has involved dozens, sometimes hundreds, of police actions against “speech-crime” suspects. Per contemporary reports, the homes of no less than 60 suspects were raided in the first edition. The 11th edition in November 2024, during which Stefan Niehoff’s home was raided, comprised some 50 such raids plus police interrogations at headquarters. The 12th edition in June 2025 comprised 180 police actions in connection with 140 investigations. They included 65 raids, as well as interrogations of “numerous suspects”. The latest edition, as noted above, involves a similar number of cases.
What exactly is the basis of the charges? German news reports are extremely sparse on details. Thus, for instance, a local report from Munich notes that raids were conducted – like in Niehoff’s case, at the break of dawn – at the homes of two suspects in the city:
“In the first case, a 32-year-old German resident of Munich posted an anti-Israeli comment on a social network in September 2024, in which he insulted the then German Foreign Minister….
“In the second case, a 32-year-old German resident of Munich posted an anti-Islamic comment on a social network in March 2025.”
The first suspect is being investigated for “insult”, the second for “incitement to hatred”. No other details are provided.
A BKA press release just mentions one example: Namely, that of “the posting of a photo in which several people are giving the Nazi salute and showing a flag with a swastika on it” – exactly like in the case of Stefan Niehoff. But, as alluded to above, the posts retweeted by Niehoff showed historical photos to draw critical parallels with contemporary events, certainly not to embrace or promote Nazism.
The BKA’s own social media post, moreover, encourages the public to denounce allegedly “hateful” online content: Either to the police for purposes of prosecution or to the social media platforms themselves for purposes of suppression. Germans have the latter possibility under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), and the resulting censorship can affect not just Germans but anyone anywhere in the world whose post happens to be visible in Germany.
Thus, the statement concludes:
🔵 What everyone can do:
❗️File a complaint with the local police
❗️Report criminal content to social networks or reporting agencies
❗️Don’t like – Don’t share – Don’t disseminate
But not all Germans appear to be happy with the German authorities’ “day of action”. Thus, the BKA was forced to limit comments on its Facebook post on account of “violations of its Netiquette”. Before it did so, however, the post received comments like the following, translations by the author:
“Yes, yes, political persecution on a grand scale, no?” (over 500 thumbs-up and other positive reactions)
“Am I wrong now or wouldn’t a lot of hate and incitement on the internet not even exist if real crimes, which are occurring every day, were more effectively prosecuted. Just a thought.” (over 100 positive reactions)
“Democracy is over. Congratulations. You’ve done it.” (over 150 positive reactions)
“George Orwell was right about everything…. Very good Germany keep going…. Real ‘heroes’ ” (75 positive reactions)
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