- Joined
- Sep 25, 2021
There's a bit of a misconception here.
We don't have one single specific law that says "Don't say niggerfaggot on Twitter, it's hate speech and thus verboten". They are "just" starting to enforce common other laws now.
The most prominet would be § 130 StGB "Volksverhetzung".
(1) Whoever, in a manner likely to disturb the public peace,
1. incites hatred, violence or arbitrary action against a national, racial, religious or ethnic group, against parts of the population or against an individual on account of his membership of the aforementioned group or part of the population, or
2. attacks the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously disparaging or defaming a aforementioned group, parts of the population or an individual because of his membership in aforementioned group or part of the population,
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three months to five years.
(2) A custodial sentence not exceeding three years or a monetary penalty shall be imposed on anyone who
1. distributes or makes available to the public any content (Section 11(3)) or offers, provides or makes available to a person under the age of eighteen any content (Section 11(3)) which
a) incites hatred against a group referred to in paragraph 1 number 1, against parts of the population or against an individual because of his or her membership of a group referred to in paragraph 1 number 1 or of a part of the population,
(b) incites acts of violence or arbitrariness against persons or groups of persons referred to in subparagraph (a); or
(c) attacks the human dignity of persons or groups of persons referred to in subparagraph (a) by insulting, maliciously disparaging or defaming them; or
2. produces, obtains, supplies, keeps in stock, offers, advertises or undertakes to import or export any content referred to in number 1 letters a to c in order to use it in the sense of number 1 or to enable another person to make such use of it.
(3) Any person who, in public or at a meeting, approves of, denies or plays down an act of the kind described in Section 6 (1) of the International Criminal Code committed under the rule of National Socialism in a manner likely to disturb the public peace shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine.
(4) Anyone who publicly or in a meeting disturbs the public peace in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims by approving, glorifying or justifying the National Socialist reign of violence and arbitrariness shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine.
(5) Subsection (2) shall also apply to any content referred to in subsections (3) or (4) (Section 11(3)).
1. incites hatred, violence or arbitrary action against a national, racial, religious or ethnic group, against parts of the population or against an individual on account of his membership of the aforementioned group or part of the population, or
2. attacks the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously disparaging or defaming a aforementioned group, parts of the population or an individual because of his membership in aforementioned group or part of the population,
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three months to five years.
(2) A custodial sentence not exceeding three years or a monetary penalty shall be imposed on anyone who
1. distributes or makes available to the public any content (Section 11(3)) or offers, provides or makes available to a person under the age of eighteen any content (Section 11(3)) which
a) incites hatred against a group referred to in paragraph 1 number 1, against parts of the population or against an individual because of his or her membership of a group referred to in paragraph 1 number 1 or of a part of the population,
(b) incites acts of violence or arbitrariness against persons or groups of persons referred to in subparagraph (a); or
(c) attacks the human dignity of persons or groups of persons referred to in subparagraph (a) by insulting, maliciously disparaging or defaming them; or
2. produces, obtains, supplies, keeps in stock, offers, advertises or undertakes to import or export any content referred to in number 1 letters a to c in order to use it in the sense of number 1 or to enable another person to make such use of it.
(3) Any person who, in public or at a meeting, approves of, denies or plays down an act of the kind described in Section 6 (1) of the International Criminal Code committed under the rule of National Socialism in a manner likely to disturb the public peace shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine.
(4) Anyone who publicly or in a meeting disturbs the public peace in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims by approving, glorifying or justifying the National Socialist reign of violence and arbitrariness shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine.
(5) Subsection (2) shall also apply to any content referred to in subsections (3) or (4) (Section 11(3)).
Something like "All faggots should die" could fall under § 130. "All Juden need to be gased" is easily an 130er offense.
Then there is law § 185 StGB "Beleidigung" ("Insulting").
Insult shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or by a fine and, if the insult is committed in public, at a meeting, by disseminating a content (Section 11(3)) or by means of an assault, by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or by a fine.
Calling someone "asshole" falls under this law.
Calling someone "Jew" will trigger § 130 instead of § 185.
Calling someone a "faggot" could be a §185 or if the state attorny wants to fuck you over a §130 offense.
But there are some more laws, targeting more specific cases. Technically you can get into trouble for insulting a dead person bc even the dead have some sort of honor. Like saying something like "[dead politician X] was a complete piece of shit and I am glad that he is dead" can lead to a trial*.
Or we have a specific law that punishes insulting our Bundespräsident. The Bundespräsident is the highest political person although he is now only for representation.
Usually the cops use the two above mentioned laws to go after persons who say mean words in the internet.
*Saying "Hitler was a piece of shit and I am glad he is dead" won't get you into trouble bc obviously fuck Hitler bc he was bad and it's ok to insult bad persons. Well, I am a bit sarcastic here but to be serious it's very unlikely that you will get into legal trouble for shittalking Hitler. Technically it could but practically it shouldn't.
