German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/21, pp.
1562-1563.
Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen.
In January, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser threatened the
messenger app Telegram with disconnection [Abschaltung]
as an ultima ratio. Markus Söder agreed with her and demanded the geo-blocking.
And Boris Pistorius, the Lower Saxony Interior Minister, wanted to ban the
messenger service from the app stores. The policy appears united: Telegram is
dangerous. Telegram must go if the makers of Telegram do not bow to the wishes
of the German government.
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, well knows these
proceedings, although not from Western democracies; since previously only countries
like China, Byelorussia, Russia or Iran have proceeded against Telegram. That
the Federal government in fact plays with the thought of aligning itself with
this list is a disgrace for our country, ladies and gentlemen, and discloses a
double morality which seeks its like. Since, two years ago, the German policy
still had a very positive view of Telegram. I remember the praise as it
organized oppositionists in Byelorussia. Now, Telegram has become of one of the
most important channels of communication in the Ukraine. Ukrainian Telegram
channels mostly transmit in three languages: In Ukrainian, in Russian and in English.
Thus we too may receive what is happening there. Thus many people in Russia
also use the app to grasp at news which does not correspond to the state-sanctioned
version of events.
Pavel Durov recently said:
Nine years ago, I defended the private sphere of the Ukrainians from the Russian government – and lost my business and my home. I would without hesitation do so again.
Thus speaks someone for whom freedom really means something,
who opposed the powerful and defends the rights of citizens even if he must
make sacrifices for that.
In Germany also is the commitment of Telegram in the Ukraine
praised. Yet as soon as extra-parliamentary opposition is organized over
Telegram, the messenger service suddenly becomes a problem for the policy and a
ban of Telegram is debated. Pressure on Apple and Google is exerted so that
they threaten the app with expulsion, and nothing is left untried for blocking
entire channels.
That Justice Minister Marco Buschmann of the FDP emphasizes
that the NetzDG was binding, self-evidently applies also to Telegram, and he
wants to more strongly control the messenger service, leaves me completely bewildered
since it was the FDP which demanded many times in the last legislative period
the abolition of the Internet Enforcement Act. All forgotten! I ask myself how
you in the morning can still look in the mirror, valued colleagues.
The disconnection demand also shows how little technical
knowledge is on hand. Russia already attempted this disconnection. They blocked
18 million IP addresses in the hope of being able to disconnect Telegram. The result:
State websites were no longer reachable, banking services, AI systems, on-line
storage; overall, it came to a loss. And Telegram? Telegram simply changed
servers and went on. At some time or other, Russia gave up. Freedom had won. For
that, it shall now be cut off in Germany. It is about control. People should
not network without supervision. People should not make arrangements, not for
marches, not for protests. The government is afraid of its own population.
Ladies and gentlemen, the disconnection of Telegram in
Germany would be a fatal signal for the world, certainly at the present time,
Gabriele Katzmarek (SPD): Ach, ja? Man, man, man!
quite irrespective that the European High Court for Human
Rights has categorized such proceedings as contrary to basic rights. This
appears to have escaped the Interior Minister.
The AfD Bundestag delegation therefore demands of the Federal
government: No ban and no network blocking of Telegram! No use of the NetzDG! Do
not put Google and Apple under pressure to toss out of their stores legal
software applications! Instead, they should improve the means of the state of
law and concern themselves that more police officers and more state attorneys
are hired and especially trained so that they can do their jobs on the
networks; since the same laws apply on the internet as in the analog world.
Dear colleagues, defend with us the right to freedom of
opinion on the internet and on messaging services guaranteed by the Constitution,
and vote for our motion [Drucksache
20/1029].
Hearty thanks.
Gabriele Katzmarek (SPD): Defend with you!
Thorsten Lieb (FDP): An embarrassing scene!
Gabriele Katzmarek (SPD): Ja, they fear their hate commentaries
which they are no longer able to get rid of!
[trans: tem]
