Holger Münch, president of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), called for tougher measures on social media and prosecutors to tackle online hate crimes.
In an interview with the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) news agency, he said: “We see that nationalism is increasing, and that crimes are increasingly committed on the left.”
While politicians on the political left and the Greens were the most frequently attacked, attacks on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party were in second place, he said.
Politicians at the local level were unable to press charges when they were attacked by the Internet, said Münch.
This was happening in only 11% of all cases. “That’s very little. Obviously, there is mistrust,” he said.
“Therefore, we need to send a message that law enforcement can continue to pursue cases like this,” he said.
Münch said he considers problematic content on social media to be a contributing factor to radicalization.
“Here we clearly have visible risks to society, and for that reason corresponding obligations must be introduced in social networks, so that the providers themselves seek, report and remove criminal content,” he said.
He warned that if people only get one-sided information, social media can become a “radicalization machine.”
Münch described the results so far from the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which requires providers to report criminal content as dangerous.
BKA had received only 61 reports during the year. He added: “And we cannot enforce different behavior because there is no penalty system.”
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