https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15292/germany-hate-postings-day
The Federal Police asked the German public to become informants and notify them about online hate speech….
In view of what Germany faces on the terrorism front, it seems an odd priority for the Federal Police to be hunting down online thought crimes in two nationwide “Action Days against Hate Postings” in one year alone….
In between online thought crimes and terrorists, the German police would seem to have their work cut out.
In Germany, police recently completed their fifth nationwide “Action Day against Hate Postings”.
German authorities initiated the action day more than three years ago; since then, it has been held once a year. According to the Federal Police, the number of recorded cases of hate crime linked to the internet has actually fallen — from 2,458 cases in 2017 to 1,962 in 2018.
Despite the decrease in cases, German authorities nevertheless decided to have not just one, but two action days this year. The first took place on June 6, when German authorities launched coordinated police raids in 13 federal states against suspects who had allegedly posted hate speech online. In a total of 38 cases, homes were searched and suspects interrogated, the Federal Criminal Police Office reported.
The second action day in 2019 took place on November 6, when the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden, which coordinated the action, launched police operations in nine federal states — Hesse, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Saxony — against suspects believed to have posted hate speech online. In 21 cases, there were apartment searches or interrogations.
The decrease in online hate speech, however, is no cause for celebration, according to the Federal Police:
“Many criminally relevant posts are not displayed or are not made known to the security authorities as they are expressed in closed forums and discussion groups.”
Instead, the Federal Police asked the German public to become informants and notify them about online hate speech:
“Support us and contribute to the fight against hate crime: … Anyone who encounters hate postings on the net or becomes a victim should report this to the police. Some federal states have internet portals available for this purpose, through which anyone can also report such crimes anonymously. An overview of these online stations can be found at: www.bka.de/DE/KontaktAufnehmen/Strafanzeigen/strafanzeigen_node.html or on the Internet portal of the German police: www.polizei.de”.
Regarding hate postings, according to Federal Police, 80% of online hate crimes are “incitement to hate”, as well as “insult, coercion and threats”.