{"id":2882,"date":"2025-02-17T16:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T17:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/?p=2882"},"modified":"2025-02-17T17:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T17:18:24","slug":"vance-blasts-orwellian-german-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/17\/vance-blasts-orwellian-german-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Vance blasts \u2018Orwellian\u2019 German laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US and the EU should reject the \u201clunacy\u201d of those who \u201ccriminalize speech\u201d, the American vice president has said<\/strong><\/p>\n

The criminalization of free speech in the EU could put a \u201cstrain\u201d<\/em> on relations between Washington and its allies there, US Vice President J.D. Vance said on Monday, calling on Western nations on both sides of the Atlantic to \u201creject\u201d<\/em> such policies.
<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Orwellian,\u201d<\/em> the vice president wrote in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). He was referring to an interview with three German state prosecutors released by the US broadcaster CBS on Sunday. Focused on Germany\u2019s efforts to fight offensive content on the internet, the interview included the prosecutors saying that insulting anyone in public or online is a crime in their country.<\/p>\n

The interview was recorded against the background of a series of coordinated raids recently launched by German police against some 50 individuals suspected of spreading hate speech online. People found guilty of such crimes in the federal republic could face fines or even jail time in the event of repeat offenses, according to the prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Trump praises Vance\u2019s \u2018brilliant\u2019 warning to EU<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThey don’t think it was illegal. And they say, \u2018No, that’s my free speech\u2019,\u201d<\/em> one of the prosecutors, Dr. Matthaus Fink, told CBS. \u201cAnd we say, \u2018No, you have free speech as well, but it also has its limits\u2019.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The courts can also order the confiscation of their electronic devices, the prosecutors said. People are usually \u201cshocked\u201d<\/em> when it happens, another prosecutor, Frank-Michael Laue, said. \u201cIt’s a kind of punishment if you lose your smartphone. It’s even worse than the fine you have to pay.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The German Criminal Code states that anyone who \u201cattacks the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously disparaging or slandering\u201d<\/em> them in a way that is \u201clikely to disturb the public peace\u201d<\/em> can face up to five years behind bars. The legislation is primarily aimed against insults linked to one\u2019s race, nationality, religion or ethnic background but is not limited to these.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Vance meets leader of \u2018firewalled\u2019 German party backed by Musk<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to CBS, the German laws specifically prohibit the spread of malicious gossip, violent threats and fake quotes online. Reposting false information is punished as well, the broadcaster said, citing the prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Vance responded to the interview by saying that \u201cinsulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships.\u201d<\/em> He then called on \u201ceveryone in Europe and the US\u201d<\/em> to \u201creject this lunacy.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The statement came just days after the vice president sharply criticized Washington\u2019s EU allies for abandoning their core values, including free speech, as well as fearing their own voters and failing to uphold democratic principles at the Munich Security Conference.<\/p>\n

His words were lauded by President Donald Trump, who called Vance\u2019s speech \u201cbrilliant.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u201cIn Europe they\u2019re losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech,\u201d<\/em> Trump said on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US and the EU should reject the \u201clunacy\u201d of those who \u201ccriminalize speech\u201d, the American vice president has said The criminalization of free speech in the EU could put a \u201cstrain\u201d on relations between Washington and its allies there, US Vice President J.D. Vance said on Monday, calling on Western nations on both sides…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2882"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2885,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions\/2885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}