Germany rethinks laws shielding politicians from insults amid public backlash

Germany is currently evaluating and reconsidering its legal frameworks regarding the protection of public figures from verbal abuse, threats, and defamation.

The debate centers heavily on balancing personal protections for elected officials with the fundamental right to freedom of speech.

Germany’s political parties have converged on an unusual point of agreement-a law penalizing citizens for insulting politicians needs to change, following controversial investigations of people who mocked Chancellor Friedrich Merz as “Pinocchio” and “Lying Fritz.”

According to a POLITICO survey of the lawmakers responsible for the issue from each of the parties represented in the Bundestag, politicians across the spectrum agree the law needs fixing they just can’t agree how, or when, to change it.

“We take seriously the criticism that, in practice, it may have created the impression of a special legal privilege for politicians,” said Susanne Hierl, a lawmaker from Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). “Such preferential treatment was never the intention of the legislature.”

While a version of the law giving special protection to politicians, Section 188 of the criminal code, has existed since 1951, former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government in 2021 strengthened the legislation as part of broader efforts to combat right-wing extremism and hate speech.

Lawmakers argued that heightened legal guardrails were necessary to prevent a "chilling effect" that discourages citizens from running for public office.

However, the laws continue to face scrutiny from legal experts, civil rights advocates, and courts. Critics contend that giving politicians elevated levels of protection compared to ordinary citizens risks infringing upon open public discourse, satire, and legitimate political criticism.

As digital vitriol and political polarization evolve, lawmakers and courts are continually forced to redefine where sharp public criticism ends and punishable criminal behavior begins.

The reform came after the 2019 murder of CDU lawmaker Walter Lübcke by a far-right extremist and amid verbal and physical attacks on local politicians amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lübcke had been an outspoken supporter of Germany’s refugee policy under Merkel.

The law applies to insults made publicly or through social media posts when they are linked to the politician’s public role and are deemed to significantly impede their work. 

Offenders face up to three years in prison or a fine for insulting politicians; defamation and “malicious gossip” carry stronger penalties.

However, opinion has turned against the law following several recent investigations and prosecutions of regular people for insulting politicians.

“Top politicians can and must be able to withstand tough criticism,” he said. “It is fundamental to our democracy, and part of our understanding of democracy in Germany, that people are free to discuss political decisions at the federal and state levels and criticize them very harshly. That does not mean that insults in the political sphere should become normalized. There are, of course, limits.”

“Politicians like Friedrich Merz insult ordinary people in this country every day by calling them lazy or malingerers,” said Luke Hoss, a Left lawmaker, referring to the chancellor’s remarks that Germans should work more to boost economic growth. “The provision creates a special criminal offense that applies only to politicians and should be abolished.”

Tobias Peterka, an AfD lawmaker, also argued that tough criticism comes with the job. “Anyone who voluntarily enters politics and exercises public authority must-as Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has repeatedly emphasized  to tolerate harsher criticism than private citizens, not less."

Variations of this view find consensus across Germany’s fractured political spectrum. The far-left Left Party and far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party want the law abolished outright, while the CDU, Greens and center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) all support revising it.