6246 criminal charges under Germany’s highly controversial offence of insulting politicians were filed in 2025 alone, an all-time high and a troubling signal for freedom of expression.
https://www.stern.de/politik/politiker-beleidigungen--neuer-rekord-bei-anzeigen-gegen-buerger-37186144.html
Politiker-Beleidigungen: Neuer Rekord bei Anzeigen gegen Bürger
Bei Politiker-Beleidigungen droht hierzulande schnell eine Anzeige und eine Hausdurchsuchung. Greift der Staat im Kampf gegen Hass zu stark in die Meinung...
"Social media democratised public opinion, shifting influence away from elites and experts to ordinary people. LLMs will partly reverse this trend. They are a powerful, new technocratising force."
https://www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/how-ai-will-reshape-public-opinion
How AI Will Reshape Public Opinion
Social media democratised public opinion, shifting influence away from elites and experts to ordinary people. LLMs will partly reverse this trend. They are a powerful, new technocratising force.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@alhohlfeld/115429653396244578
New Year, same story: "The accused were summoned or visited by the local police stations, and evidence was secured from their smartphones. In some cases, searches were also carried out. The measures were also intended to make the accused, some of whom had already appeared several times with such content, aware that criminal offences on the internet also have real consequences."
https://www.bka.de/DE/Presse/Listenseite_Pressemitteilungen/2026/Presse2026/260225_StrafbareInhalteimNetz.html
“I want to see real names on the internet. I want to know who is speaking up,” the German Federal Chancellor said yesterday. It is hardly surprising that calls for age verification and social media bans for minors are now being followed by demands for an end to online anonymity.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexander-hohlfeld_i-want-to-see-real-names-on-the-internet-activity-7430056380063072256-q-5j
“I want to see real names on the internet. I want to know who is speaking up,” the German Federal Chancellor said yesterday in his Ash Wednesday speech (https://lnkd.in/dUVH87ja)
It is therefore… | Alexander Hohlfeld
“I want to see real names on the internet. I want to know who is speaking up,” the German Federal Chancellor said yesterday in his Ash Wednesday speech (https://lnkd.in/dUVH87ja)
It is therefore hardly surprising that calls for age verification and social media bans for minors are now being followed by demands for a real-name requirement and an end to online anonymity.
The Chancellor argues that politicians themselves speak under their real names and may therefore expect the same from their critics. This reasoning, however, disregards structural power asymmetries and cuts against the core rationale of freedom of expression. The risks faced by those in government for expressing their views are simply not comparable to the risks faced by their critics. That should be self-evident.
What makes the proposal even more concerning is that Merz himself has filed hundreds of criminal complaints against critics, some of which reportedly resulted in house raids (https://lnkd.in/dwYMyctc). Last year, I explained for The Future of Free Speech how German authorities conduct house raids in alleged “hate speech” cases - instances that often amounted to little more than harsh criticism of politicians. (https://lnkd.in/eerh9m9J). Against this backdrop, the call to abolish anonymity online is particularly troubling.
Whether in Spain, France, or Germany, governments must be reminded that fundamental rights are not defended by attempting to outdo one another in restricting them.
The full speech (in German) is available here: https://lnkd.in/dUVH87ja
I wrote in the past on why I believe crowdsourced approaches are the best way out of the partisan polarisation trap here:
https://alhohlfeld.substack.com/p/reclaiming-trust-why-bottom-up-approaches
Reclaiming Trust: Why Bottom-Up Approaches Outshine Traditional Fact-Checking
An unpopular opinion on Meta´s recent decision to withdraw from traditional fact-checking
Another example of why the concept of top-down fact checking is inherently dangerous. The question "what if the other side were to use the same concept?" is no longer merely hypothetical [1/2]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias/
Media Offenders
Explore the Media Bias Tracker that fact checks and holds Fake News accountable. False claims debunked, Hall of Shame for serial offenders, Leaderboard of networks ranked by Repeated Lies. Stay informed, stay accurate.
The same instruments imposed by executive decisions are framed as a “defence of liberal democracy” when applied to political opponents, or as an “attack on liberal democracy” when applied to political allies (
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexander-hohlfeld_on-23-december-2025-the-united-states-administration-activity-7410618620692811776-O7FH)
"This gap between user desires and current offerings indicates an opportunity: meaningful, accessible controls that provide substantive choices could meet this latent demand and increase adoption among users wanting greater agency over their digital environment"
https://kgi.georgetown.edu/research-and-commentary/bringing-better-feeds-to-life/
Bringing Better Feeds to Life – Knight-Georgetown Institute
