Joana
Cotar
Internet
Law Enforcement
German
Bundestag, January 18, 2019, Plenarprotokoll 19/74, pp. 8727-8728
[Joana Cotar is an Alternative für
Deutschland Bundestag member and businesswoman from the central German state of
Hessen. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Justice Minister Katarina Barley are
members of the SPD. This is the latest of a series of Bundestag speeches
delivered by Cotar calling for repeal of the NetzDG, an internet law
enforcement measure enacted shortly before the AfD’s entry into the Bundestag
in the autumn of 2017.]
Right
honorable Herr President. Right honorable ladies and gentlemen.
Over
a year of the NetzDG, over a year of the combat against freedom of opinion,
over a year of countless legitimate and unjustly deleted posts and blocked
users and over a year in which the real hatred and libel in the social media
has not been reduced.
On
30 June 2017, here in the Bundestag then Justice Minister Heiko Maas and
colleagues of the old parties turned over to international concerns a core duty
of the state. Judges now no longer decide the illegality of a post and freedom
of opinion, but employees of Facebook and Co. – without legal training; for
that, suffices often one’s own agenda or simple whim.
Thomas Heilmann (CDU/CSU): How can
one relate such idiocy? That is rubbish.
As
has been exposed in reports, the federal government has also with the NetzDG
responded to demands of Iran and China and accepted recommendations from both
of these countries.
Volker Ulrich (CDU/CSU): That is
such idiocy!
They
themselves have admitted that to the UN human rights council. Iran and China,
droll models for us of freedom of opinion, ladies and gentlemen.
Not
for nothing has the UN special advisor for freedom of opinion, David Kaye, now
renewed his criticism of the NetzDG. With this law, Germany ha been massively
disgraced and private firms made judges of content. It is precisely that that
we of the AfD have always criticized, also here in the Bundestag.
Thomas Heilmann (CDU/CSU): All of
your predictions have not occurred…
Already
in a bill introduced in December 2017, we required the unconditional repeal of
the NetzDG.
Carsten Müller (CDU/CSU): False
then, false now…
The
old party colleagues rejected it. Indeed, the SPD and Union continue to find
this law to have been a really good idea.
Thomas Heilmann (CDU/CSU): Ten
thousand deletions leading to 700 decrees.
The
cost for the prosecutorial officials introduced by the NetzDG is figured at 3.7
million euros a year. The federal government maintained that the high staffing
requirement was unconditionally necessary to deal with approximately 25,000
complaints and 500 compensatory proceedings. However, as has been brought out
by a minor inquiry of the AfD delegation, it was already clear after three
quarters of a year that the number of complaints was 50 times less than the
estimates of the Ministry for Justice and Consumer Protection.
Thomas Heilmann (CDU/CSU): Yes,
simply because the law is better than you
say.
say.
Since
enactment of the law, not a single compensatory fine has been ordered against a
social network. Besides, the office personnel for processing these few complaints
will not be reduced by the ministry now led by Katarina Barley. It is simply
maintained that the processing of these cases has been unexpectedly difficult. It’s
only the taxpayers’ money; that can be easily thrown out the window. The
socialists have decades of experience in that.
Marianne Schieder (SPD): Such
nonsense!
The
transparency report on social media ordered by the federal office for justice
in July 2018 is still being evaluated. Nevertheless, it can stated that
accounts were rarely cancelled due to the NetzDG but mostly on grounds of
community standards. The law is thus inefficient, expensive, useless and
unconstitutional.
Now
the Greens present a motion with which they want to improve the law. I must
smile a little; since, the Greens in recent weeks have indeed shown that they
cannot deal with the social media. The leader of the Greens, Robert Habeck, has
left Twitter and Facebook, not because he eventually took responsibility for
his own failures but because Twitter itself is plainly aggressive and evil. The
Green delegation leader Katharina Schulze turned off the comments function on
her profile because she cannot deal with justifiable criticism. Yet, according
to the Greens’ own statements, democracy, freedom and openness are receding in the
parliament. Exactly my feelings, ladies and gentlemen.
But
back to your motion. In 26 points you require improvement of the NetzDG:
user-friendly report tools, clearing positions, research on hate-speech operations,
disinformation and social bots, a put-back procedure, creation of an additional
regulatory position, a police-like internet watch, and, and and. Granted, the
motion contains points which we of the AfD could vote for. But in our view,
re-doctoring will not fix a law completely ill-advised from the beginning. Just
the opposite. It makes everything more complicated. There are countless
regulations and directions, more bureaucracy, more costs for the citizen – and
all that for one law, which means one thing: it must go!
In
Germany, law enforcement is in the hands of the public courts and it should
remain there. The AfD therefore will not vote for this motion and re-commits
itself to freedom of opinion, internet freedom
and the unconditional repeal of the NetzDG. Many thanks.
