A guest on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” attempted to claim on Sunday’s broadcast that despite reports of pre-dawn raids and the confiscation of electronics, German citizens really do enjoy free speech — until they say something that law enforcement interprets as “hate speech.”
Dr. Matthäus Fink sat down with host Sharyn Alfonsi to discuss the topic, and he explained how the recent raids had played out.
“What’s the typical reaction when the police show up at somebody’s door and they say, ‘Hey, we believe you wrote this on the internet’?” Alfonsi asked.
Fink said that the initial reaction was typically disbelief — mainly because they believed they were entitled to freedom of speech: “They say — in Germany we say, ‘Das wird man ja wohl noch sagen dürfen.’ So we are here with crimes of talking, posting on internet, and the people are surprised that this is really illegal to post these kind of words.”
WATCH:
In Germany, posting hate speech online is illegal. The law is enforced with pre-dawn police raids. https://t.co/DNAJyNxILt pic.twitter.com/OHvWTVaRjQ
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
“They don’t think it was illegal. And they say, ‘No, that’s my free speech.’ And we say, ‘No, you have free speech as well, but it is also has its limits,’” Fink continued.
Fink also revealed during the interview that in addition to posting swastika images or any other Nazi symbols — and even denying the Holocaust – it was also illegal to insult another person in public.
“And it’s a crime to insult them online as well?” Alfonsi asked.
“The fine could be even higher if you insult someone in the internet,” Fink replied, explaining, “Because in internet, it stays there. If we are talking face to face, you insult me, I insult you, okay. Finish. But if you’re in the internet, if I insult you or a politician …”
The interview comes just days after Vice President JD Vance spoke in Munich about the dangers posed by European nations like Germany when they policed the free speech of and even outright censored their people.
“Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for firewalls,” Vance said. “You either uphold the principal or you don’t.”
It also comes just a few hours after “Face the Nation” host claimed — during an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio — that the Holocaust had been caused by the fact that “free speech was weaponized.”
Rubio quickly shut Brennan down, explaining that censorship had been one of the hallmarks of the Nazi regime.