Germany must act to stop the dissemination of extremist content online and block major social media platforms if necessary, a senior MP from the country’s Green Party has said.
MP Anton Hofreiter, the chairman of the Bundestag’s European policy committee, made the remarks on Saturday while speaking to reporters from Funke Media Group. The politician called for tighter control over social media, up to the outright blocking of certain platforms.
“One of the biggest problems of extremism is online radicalization,” Hofreiter stated, adding that the dissemination of “anti-constitutional content on the Internet” must be stopped.
“We need to tackle the root of the problem and push back radicalization in digital space as well as in society,” he stressed.
Those social media platforms that refuse to abide by German laws and remove “extremist content” must be blocked altogether, Hofreiter argued, specifically singling out X, formerly Twitter, among the potential targets.
However, blocking platforms must only be a last resort measure, the MP noted, urging the government not to distance itself from modern technology. Instead, the government should use them for its own benefits, namely deploying “digital agents” to infiltrate private groups on Telegram to identify potential criminals, Hofreiter suggested.
The call to toughen Germany’s stance on social media comes after a new series of incidents, including a shooting outside the Israeli consulate in Munich, as well as a knifing rampage in Solingen that left three dead.
In recent days, several countries have taken steps to rein in social media platforms. Earlier this week, Brazil slapped a blanket ban on X; the platform had failed to comply with local political misinformation and hate speech laws by refusing to delete certain offending messages.
In late August, the Russian tech entrepreneur and founder of Telegram Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris. The businessman now faces a multitude of charges related to complicity in drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, and various forms of child abuse, stemming from the actions of Telegram users. While Durov was ultimately released on bail, he has been ordered to stay in France while the investigation is ongoing.
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