> Across the country, stories continue to emerge of politicians turning citizens over to law enforcement for voicing opinions online. In one case, a 64-year-old man was fined €825 ($962) after police raided his home over a meme that labeled then-Economy Minister Robert Habeck a “professional idiot.”
- He posted a meme insulting a politician (IMO mildly, he basically called them a "professional idiot")
- His house was raided and he was charged with defamation
- At trial, they dropped said charge, but revealed new charges. It turns out he had also posted memes with Nazi imagery, albeit not to promote Nazism, but to insult politicians by comparing them to Nazis (e.g. a meme of a Green politician doing a Nazi salute and calling them "The Green Reich")
- Nonetheless, posting any Nazi symbols is strictly illegal in Germany (even if used as jokes, since some people pretend "it's just a joke" to spread unpopular ideas they seriously hold). So Niehoff got fined €825.
The man is Stefan Niehoff. Here's a more detailed explanation from a different source: https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/06/german-fined-for-insulting.... There are many more articles, a documentary, and a 60 minutes interview. The tl;dr seems to be:
- He posted a meme insulting a politician (IMO mildly, he basically called them a "professional idiot")
- His house was raided and he was charged with defamation
- At trial, they dropped said charge, but revealed new charges. It turns out he had also posted memes with Nazi imagery, albeit not to promote Nazism, but to insult politicians by comparing them to Nazis (e.g. a meme of a Green politician doing a Nazi salute and calling them "The Green Reich")
- Nonetheless, posting any Nazi symbols is strictly illegal in Germany (even if used as jokes, since some people pretend "it's just a joke" to spread unpopular ideas they seriously hold). So Niehoff got fined €825.