The Burial of Free Speech: German Government Takes Down Independent Media Outlet

An independent news outlet has been forcibly closed down by the German Government in a direct attack on free speech.

COMPACT-Magazin GmbH and CONSPECT-Film GmbH, a German independent news outlet, has been forcibly closed down by the German Government. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser enforced the ban on the magazine on 16 July 2024 and according to Brandenburg's Interior Minister, Michael Stübgen, the media outlet’s revenues were confiscated.

The Minister of the Interior cited the ‘Verein ban’ - a loophole in the law which allows an organisation to be banned by an association under certain conditions. In the opinion of the German Government, COMPACT-Magazin GmbH violated the constitutional order within Article 9 of the Basic Law and Section 3 of the Associations Act. The current ban prohibits any continuation of previous activities, and any violation of the order would constitute a criminal offence.

According to the press release from the Ministry of the Interior, the magazine is agitating against a pluralistic social system that respects the human dignity of the individual and provides for the free and equal participation of all citizens in the political decision-making process. In the minister's opinion, COMPACT Magazin GmbH disseminates anti-Semitic, racist, anti-minority, historical revisionist and conspiracy theories.

The magazine, which operates from Falkensee, is managed by Jürgen Elsässer and has been in operation since 2010. The main products of the multimedia-oriented company are the monthly ‘COMPACT-Magazin’ with a circulation of 40,000 copies and the online video channel ‘COMPACT-TV’. In addition, ‘COMPACT-Magazin GmbH’ operates numerous social media channels and an online shop selling books, audio books, CDs and DVDs as well as merchandise such as clothing, posters, stickers, mugs and medals in addition to its own print products. The magazine’s websites have been blocked and there are further bans on distribution and reporting via Facebook, X, Telegram and other social networks. YouTube recently removed two of the magazine’s channels which had 350,000 subscribers.  

In the early hours of Tuesday 16^th July, a total of 339 officers searched properties belonging to the organisation in Falkensee and Werder an der Havel (Brandenburg) and in Battenberg/Eder (Hesse) as well as the homes of ten employees in Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Hesse. The Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution were involved in the containment measures and their preparation.

This direct attack on free speech came after AUFI, an Austrian news channel, recently had its bank accounts blocked. Austrian media commentator and AUF1 spokesperson, Elsa Mittmannsgruber commented in response to the ban on her Telegram channel:

"Now it's getting serious. The tough fight against disinformation is entering the final round. After the account cancellations of AUF1, now comes the ban on COMPACT. The powerful are using the carefree summertime to gradually eliminate their critics in the shade of the sunshine.”

Jürgen Elsässer, the founder of COMPACT, stated that there had not been one criminal conviction in the 14 years since the company was founded. He advised that this is the worst interference against freedom of the press since the German Spiegel affair of 1962 and describes the ban as an “unacceptable measure” indicating that Germany was moving towards totalitarianism.

The measures are in conflict with the sentiments of the German Federal Constitutional Court which itself states on freedom of expression:

”In constitutional court jurisprudence ... freedom of opinion has long been counted among the indispensable and fundamental functional elements of a democratic community… It is regarded as the most direct expression of the human personality and as one of the most noble human rights of all, which is constitutive of a liberal democratic state order; for it is only through freedom of expression that it enables the constant intellectual debate and the clash of opinions as a vital element of this form of government…”

Source: Decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court: BVerfG, 14 March 1972 - 2 BvR 41/71. 

Suppression of freedom of opinion and information is always an act of sabotage against democracy, against science, against a functioning judiciary, and ultimately against an individual’s right to self-determination.  The over-reach of the German Government against a news magazine is a monstrous step towards totalitarianism and must be rejected in the strongest terms.  

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