On Tuesday, May 27th, a 73-year-old Bavarian pensioner was notified that he was to start his 75-day prison sentence by June 5th. His crime? Two posts on X in which he used the phrase “Alles für Deutschland” (“Everything for Germany”), a slogan often associated with the SA, a paramilitary organisation of the Nazi party some 90 years ago. The elderly man was first sentenced to a fine, which he did not pay, claiming he did not have the financial means to do so.
Germany’s speech police is now cracking down on ordinary citizens, after primarily targeting the politicians of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), currently the most popular party in the country. One of the most recent cases was that of David Bendels, editor-in-chief for the AfD-affiliated Deutschland Kurier, who received a seven-month suspended sentence for “abuse, slander or defamation against persons in political life.” The offence? Bendels had edited and posted a meme of then interior minister Nancy Faeser, which pictured her holding a sign saying “I hate freedom of opinion.”
As a February report by the MCC Brussels think tank revealed, Germany’s expansive hate speech and defamation laws were being used in particular ahead of the parliamentary elections to target political opponents. Section 188 of the German Criminal Code has led to police searches and criminal penalties for citizens who insult politicians online, including a raid on a retired man’s home for sharing a post critical of a government minister, the fining of a pensioner €800 for a joke referencing a politician’s personal life, and a citizen being sentenced to prison for sending an angry email to a prime minister.
The situation is not better—if not worse—in the UK. The case of Lucy Connolly, a middle-aged mother and influencer jailed for no less than 31 months, has made the biggest waves lately. After the news of the Southport attacks—in which three children were killed by Axel Rudakubana—broke, Connolly, like many other Britons, reacted emotionally. She chose to express herself on social media, calling for “mass deportation” and setting fire to the “[migrant ] … hotels full of the bastards.” Connolly deleted the comment in less than four hours, and admitted in court that she had made a mistake in her choice of words, and yet was found guilty of inciting racial hatred.
Lucy’s case is not isolated. Peter Lynch, a 61-year-old grandfather shouted racist remarks at a demonstration in Rotherham, protesting against mass immigration in the wake of the grooming gang scandals. The protest later escalated into violence, but Lynch was jailed for his remarks and sentenced to two years and eight months (!) in prison in August 2024. In October, he was found hanged in his prison cell.
The pattern is clear. According to The Times of London, in the UK police are arresting over thirty people per day for offensive posts on social media platforms, citing section 127 of the Communications Act of 2003, which criminalises the spread of “grossly offensive” messages online.
Germany and the UK are racing down an extremely dangerous path by penalising people who voice dissenting opinions—rude, thoughtless, or baseless though they may be—while simply exercising their right to free speech. It is time to turn back.