German Journalist Gets Slammed for a Meme
A German journalist just got hit with a crazy sentence. He’s been slapped with seven months in prison on probation and a fine that’s nearly 60% of his yearly income—all because he posted a meme.
Yeah, you read that right.
The meme took a jab at the German government for its crackdowns on freedom of speech. It wasn’t just any meme—it mocked the authorities by showing Interior Minister Nancy Faeser holding a sign digitally altered to say “I hate freedom of speech.”
Die Welt reports that a district court in Bavaria handed down the sentence to Deutschland-Kurier editor David Bendels.
The ruling didn’t pull any punches. Authorities said he’d committed “defamation directed against people in political life.”
Bendels isn’t taking this lying down. He claims no one in Germany has ever been jailed for a meme before. He even thinks that Interior Minister Faeser personally pushed for this harsh punishment.
Bendels stated “We will not accept this verdict and will defend ourselves against it using all legal means,” adding “The Deutschland-Kurier and I personally will continue the just struggle for freedom of the press and freedom of expression, which is indispensable for the continued existence of democracy in Germany, resolutely, stably and with all consistency.”
Things got even more heated when Björn Höcke, a regional leader for the populist AfD in Thuringia, fired off some hard-hitting words. He urged, “German politicians, responsible for the deindustrialization of our country and tearing its citizens apart from each other made Germany a laughingstock of the world.”
Höcke hit back hard, saying, “They armor themselves and attack freedom of speech again and again, ending our constitutional democracy.”
Not to leave any stone unturned, he added, “We have been warned by Donald Trump and Elon Musk: The enemies of freedom are found within the EU-governments!”
As seen before, this kind of authoritarian clampdown on memes is becoming all too common in Germany.
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