Press release of 1, April 2025
»Do not create a truth law if you do not want a Ministry of Truth«
The CDU/CSU and SPD are planning laws that would unduly restrict the fundamental right to freedom of speech. This applies to the passage in the coalition agreement which states that they want to »combat hatred and agitation even more intensively« and to tighten up the criminal offence of ‘incitement to hatred«. It also refers to the planned creation of a new offence of »information manipulation«. The aim is to combat the »deliberate dissemination of false statements of fact«.
PEN Berlin recognises the dangers of incitement and deliberate disinformation and shares the concern for the future of our democracy if disinformation increasingly define the public sphere. International PEN’s Charter states: »Since freedom also requires personal responsibility, members pledge to refrain from untruthful publications, deliberate falsification and distortion of facts, and to oppose the abuse of freedom by the press.«
However, as the statistics show, there has been a worrying tendency for some time now for the prosecuting authorities to interpret the boundaries of what constitutes incitement to hatred more and more generously. Deniz Yücel, spokesperson for PEN Berlin, said: »Freedom of speech includes the freedom to say ignorant, stupid, provocative, seditious, sacrilegious, vile, tasteless or stupid things. The extension of the charge of incitement and the inflationary use of the formula ‘hate and agitation’ have not helped civilised coexistence, but have harmed it.«
The same goes for the plan to criminalise the dissemination of false factual claims. In the opinion of PEN Berlin, the existing prohibitions on libel, slander and defamation are sufficient to protect the rights of natural and legal persons. But it is grotesque to believe that truth has comparable legal claims that the state would have to enforce.
At best, science and journalism can come close to the truth. The coronavirus pandemic has shown how things that are treated as incontrovertible scientific facts can later prove to be inaccurate – such as the claim that the vaccine would prevent the virus from being passed on. Yücel said: »It’s a mystery to me how, after this experience, anyone could come up with the idea of creating a law of truth.«
Another warning should be that authoritarian regimes such as those in Russia, Turkey or Hungary have also taken up »the fight against disinformation and fake news«. But in an open society, truth is always subject to social debate, however painful. »Do not create a truth law if you do not want a Ministry of Truth«, Yücel said.
PEN Berlin. We stand by our word.