AAP FACTCHECK – The German government has supposedly unveiled plans to give police powers to raid the homes of citizens who share “non-mainstream” views, social media posts claim.
This is false. The laws referred to are still in their draft phase and are aimed at targeting terrorist threats, not people who share “non-mainstream” views.
Many of the posts are identical and read: “German Police Begin Raiding Homes of Citizens Who Share ‘Non-Mainstream Content’ Online.
“The German government has unveiled plans to allow police to secretly raid the homes of citizens who view or share non-mainstream content on social media.
“According to the draft, police could also install spyware on suspects’ computers or smartphones and conduct covert searches of their homes if they are suspected to have anti-establishment views.”
The posts also claim that German news outlets are reporting that the laws will allow police to raid homes without warrants.
The claims reflect those made in an article by The People’s Voice, a website AAP FactCheck has debunked several times.
The laws referred to were proposed by Germany’s Ministry of the Interior and aim to give police powers to covertly search the homes of terror suspects and install surveillance software on suspect devices.
The draft bill, published on the German news site Netzpolitik, makes no reference to people sharing “non-mainstream” views.
The draft states it aims to ward off threats of international terrorism.
The proposal has yet to go through any of Germany’s parliamentary bodies and has received opposition from Germany’s Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry of Justice and Ministry of the Interior are led by separate parties inside Germany’s ruling coalition government.
Dr. Björnstjern Baade, a German law and misinformation expert who’s a visiting professor at Humboldt University Berlin, said the claims circulating online misrepresent the draft law’s purpose, scope and requirements.
“The draft law does not refer to ‘non-mainstream views’ in any way,” Dr Baade said.
“It is meant to counter terrorist threats and organised crime.
“The federal government as a whole has not yet decided to initiate legislative proceedings.”
Dr Baade said the claim that the draft proposal would give police powers to search homes and install software without a warrant is false.
He outlined that it’s explicitly stated in the draft bill that judicial authorisation would be needed for such actions.
The bill, as drafted, would only give police powers “to search homes covertly if they have evidence that serious crimes are planned (in particular terrorist crimes) and this is the only way to gain further insights on the planned crime,” he explained.
“Such a search would as a rule also require judicial authorisation.”
If the government does decide to proceed with the legislation, the bill would need to pass through Germany’s parliament.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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