Berlin is threatening thousands of German citizens with fines and even imprisonment for criticising politicians online. Germany has a dystopian free speech crisis.
Dr Zitelmann is one of thousands of Germans who have been threatened with fines or imprisonment for social media posts that fall foul of Germany’s uniquely stringent political speech laws.
The German author and historian initially thought the letter he received from the police was a misunderstanding. He was accused of violating post-Second World War laws banning the display of Nazi symbols, slogans or imagery, offences that can carry a prison sentence of up to three years.
The 69-year-old discovered he was under investigation after posting a meme on social media criticising Adolf Hitler and comparing Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In another case, a German man’s home was raided for calling a government minister a “dummy”, while another was fined £1,700 for calling Chancellor Merz “Lying Fritz” under a law that effectively makes it illegal to mock politicians.
The number of investigations under Section 86a — the law banning Nazi symbols, under which Mr Zitelmann was investigated — has more than doubled over the past decade. Investigations under Germany’s “political insult” law reached a record high in 2025.
The surge in cases has prompted the UN to investigate alleged free speech violations in Germany — a step more commonly associated with authoritarian states. Free speech campaigners from both the left and the right, along with members of the Trump administration, have also raised concerns, with calls growing louder to repeal some of Germany’s most restrictive speech laws.
There are striking similarities between the free speech debate in Germany and the UK, where citizens are increasingly finding themselves questioned by the police over opinions expressed online. This was a point made by US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in 2025.
Germany’s security services have also faced criticism after classifying the AfD as an extremist organisation. The Telegraph has also reported that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) — Germany’s domestic intelligence agency — has begun compiling files on German activists with links to the Trump administration.
Germans are also reporting one another through Stasi-style online portals that allow citizens to report allegedly illegal comments. “It’s the stuff of totalitarian countries,” says Mr Zitelmann. He is calling for Section 86a to be abolished, not because he was investigated under it, but because he believes it has merely driven Germany’s estimated 50,000 neo-Nazis underground. He told The Telegraph: “The only way forward is to abolish these kinds of laws. I don’t want them to do this in secret: I want to see my enemy.”
Another deeply controversial law is Section 188 of the German Criminal Code, which imposes a de facto ban on publicly insulting or defaming elected officials.
In 2021, the German Government strengthened the law — which dates back to the Weimar Republic — by lowering the threshold for prosecutions in response to a wave of violent threats and harassment against politicians.
Today, police forces across Germany are using it to investigate citizens for mocking political leaders. One recent case involved a pensioner who was investigated for posting “Pinocchio is coming” on Facebook in reference to the German Chancellor visiting his hometown. The investigation was dropped following a public outcry.
Official figures show a record 7,792 Section 188 cases being recorded in Germany in 2025, with the number rising by nearly 85 per cent between 2023 and 2025.
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Inflation quietly reduces your investment returns.
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Here’s what that can look like:
You invest $10,000.
It grows 10% to $11,000.
Inflation runs at 8%, so your purchasing-power gain is closer to 2%.
But your taxable gain is still generally based on the $1,000 nominal increase when you sell, not the roughly $200 real gain after inflation.
Depending on your taxable income and how long you held the investment, long-term capital gains are generally taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20%.
Short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income, and some higher-income investors may also owe the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax.
This is why a 10% return doesn’t automatically mean your wealth grew by 10%.
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His logic is sound…
#youarethepower
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Esse dia foi loco!
*Quem souber o crédito da piada avisa aqui pra gente :)
#Copa #ronaldinhogaucho #Ronaldinho #fenômeno #humor #cassetaeplaneta
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Latin America’s Religious Shift
Source: @latinometrics
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Here's the trap in "everything is relative": it can't actually be applied consistently, and the people using it never do.
Nobody says a culture's chemistry is just as valid as another culture's chemistry when one of them can actually cure disease.
We accept that some methods of understanding reality just work better. But say the same thing about values, that some moral frameworks produce less violence, more freedom, less cruelty, and suddenly you're an imperialist.
Either truth and morality are things you can get closer to or further from, or they're not. You don't get to use objective standards for medicine and then declare morality exempt the moment it's inconvenient.
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Uma pesquisadora de doutorado da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) teve sua pesquisa suspensa pela universidade por emitir opiniões nas redes sociais sobre o tratamento de crianças transgênero.
Celina Lazzari cursa doutorado no Departamento de Serviço Social da UFSC, com um projeto de pesquisa intitulado “A escuta do assistente social na infância e questões de gênero”. Em março deste ano, a pesquisa foi suspensa pelo departamento, em cumprimento a uma determinação do Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa com Seres Humanos (CEPSH) da UFSC.
No entanto, ao determinar a suspensão temporária da pesquisa para apuração, o comitê se baseou em representação fundamentada em publicações de Lazzari nas redes sociais e em entrevista concedida por ela ao jornal Gazeta do Povo sobre crianças com disforia de gênero — e não em alguma irregularidade ética no projeto de pesquisa.
A pesquisadora é diretora da Matria, uma ONG de mulheres que se posiciona contra intervenções hormonais em crianças com disforia de gênero. A relação dela com a ONG também é citada na representação que levou à decisão do comitê da UFSC.
Além de determinar a suspensão da pesquisa, o comitê exigiu que Lazzari entregasse cópias de entrevistas, textos de opinião e publicações em redes sociais — materiais sem relação com o projeto de doutorado.
Em maio deste ano, Celina Lazzari obteve decisão liminar da Justiça Federal em Santa Catarina autorizando a continuidade de seu trabalho de doutorado. Pouco depois, a liminar foi confirmada por sentença.
“A ausência de apontamento de qualquer falha metodológica ou risco real aos participantes reforça a conclusão de que a suspensão não se fundou em irregularidade da pesquisa em si, mas em desconforto com as posições expressas pela pesquisadora em contextos externos ao ambiente acadêmico”, escreveu o juiz Diógenes Tarcísio Marcelino Teixeira na sentença.
➡️ Para ler a reportagem completa da coluna de Andreza Matais, você pode acessar os Stories do Metrópoles ou conferir diretamente no metropoles.com
🤳 Philip Yabut via Getty Images
#colunaandrezamatais
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