In Germany, telling someone on the internet that you will hurt and injure them if they visit you at home is apparently a valid defence for actually hitting them now.
Facebook just made a mockery of the fight against hate speech by admitting that it's okay if you call for the murder of people the political mainstream doesn't like. It's only hate speech if you want to murder the wrong people. What the actual fuck.
German YouTuber Drachenlord has sold his infamous Drachenschanze and is travelling in a pickup truck around Germany. Meanwhile, well-meaning people, who have no idea what's actually going on, think he's being bullied.
Looking at the plans for the new German government, made up out of the Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals, there are some interesting free speech and privacy implications for the future. Not only of Germany, but probably also for much of Europe.
At what point does a person who is bullied relentlessly become responsible for the situation if they keep encouraging it? That's the question we are trying to fathom when looking at the case of German YouTuber Rainer Winkler aka. Drachenlord.
Examining the contemporary forces arrayed against those speaking what they perceive of as the truth, be it Julian Assange or that random dude on Facebook.
What's more in your interest? Stopping Facebook from leeching off the private data of your life to further its monopoly or forcing it to censor your speech? And now take a guess which of the two politicians want to do and journalists are ecstatic about?
What happens when our media consumption is so fear-inducing that we let companies regulate our social connections? A culture of digital snitching develops that gives companies knowledge that previously only authoritarian governments possessed.
If we start to outlaw fake news, wo will decide what is fake and what is the truth? Do we trust the state? Should journalists do it? And what are we actually afraid of here?
Police raids across Europe to fight hate speech sound like a good idea. But what does 'hate speech' actually mean? And does fighting it actually help? Or will it endanger your freedom of speech and maybe even your privacy?
