German police investigating Gab user for calling female politician ‘fat’
German police are investigating a netizen who called a female politician “fat” on the social media platform Gab.
‘The user attacks the honour of the politician’
The user, who reportedly used the handle “@Die_Lunte_brennt_schon,” drew the attention of authorities after labeling Bundestag MP Ricarda Lang (pictured) “fat” in two posts. The Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) demanded Gab provide information about the user to assist in its investigation.
“Through the sexualized and denigrated representation of ‘Ricarda Lang,’ the user attacks the honour of the politician and shows his own disrespect (section 185 of the German criminal code),” the BKA wrote in a letter to Gab. “With this insult the user publicly insults a person in the political life on the grounds of the insulted person’s position in the public life.”
While the police admitted they are uncertain if the user lives in Germany, they asked Gab to disclose the user’s ID documents, proof of address, phone numbers, payment data, IP address, and other data.
Gab refuses to comply with ‘ridiculous’ request
Gab, however, has so far refused to comply. The company’s founder and CEO, Andrew Torba, called the German police’s demand “ridiculous.”
"One of the more ridiculous foreign data requests that Gab received (and turned down) from Germany was when they wanted us to dox a user for calling a female politician fat," he wrote in an X post on Sunday.
Insulting politicians is a crime
According to Section 188 of Germany’s Criminal Code (StGB), which was amended in 2021, “insults, slander and defamation of people in political life” are punishable. This goes for insults directed at any official, even at the local level. German citizens can also be prosecuted for saying things that are deemed false.
In 2022 the BKA announced a “day of action” in which they arrested, investigated, and raided 100 Germans who had insulted officials online. The operation was conducted after police combed through 600 social media posts.
“Anyone who posts hate messages must expect the police to be at the door afterwards,” said BKA President Holger Münch in a statement at the time.
Regarding free speech, Münch said German law is clear: “Freedom of expression reaches its limits as soon as defamation, insults and threats are involved.”
Hessian Attorney General Torsten Kunze said the prosecution of Germans over offensive social media posts is necessary to protect democracy.
“In order to prevent the withdrawal of those affected from reaching a level that endangers democracy, we are prosecuting these crimes consistently and in close cooperation with the public prosecutors of the other federal states,” said Kunze.
