Germany’s Free Speech Row Deepens After CDU Leader Backs Media Bans

The debate in Germany over freedom of expression has intensified after remarks by Daniel Günther, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, triggered a political backlash across the country.

Speaking on the ZDF channel on January 7th, Günther called for far tougher regulation of media outlets and social networks that are “opponents and enemies of democracy”—ie. publications that do not align with his world view.

Warning that Germany’s political system would be “unrecognisable in ten years” if such “excesses” were not tackled, he openly entertained the idea of censorship and bans.

Among his proposals were a ban on social media access for under-16s, and he also attacked alternative media outlets, singling out the right-wing portal Nius for its role in criticising the candidacy of the left-wing judge Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf for Germany’s constitutional court.

If I look at Nius articles that have anything to do with me, there is usually nothing in them that is true.

Volker Boehme-Neßler, professor of constitutional law, said he was “shocked at how little understanding and how little feeling for freedom of expression a German prime minister has.”

He stressed that even polemical or false statements are protected: “You are allowed to say nonsense. That is part of freedom of opinion and media, as long as it does not constitute incitement to hatred and is not punishable by law.”

Criticism also came from within the CDU. Jan Jacobi, a regional chairman in Potsdam, wrote on X:

I am appalled at how a CDU prime minister fantasises about which opinions should still be permitted in our country.

Others rallied to Günther’s defence, including former CDU general secretary Ruprecht Polenz, who insisted: “Günther is completely right.” Chancellor Friedrich Merz and CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann declined to comment.

Opposition parties were less restrained. Deputy leader of the liberal FDP party Wolfgang Kubicki branded the comments “absolutely unacceptable, authoritarian ramblings” and urged Günther to keep his “hands off press freedom.”

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the right-wing AfD party, accused the CDU premier of “authoritarian madness,” warning:

Anyone who abolishes freedom of expression is himself an enemy of the constitution.

The episode resonates beyond one television appearance. Over the past few years, Germany has seen repeated clashes between the state and critical media, from the attempted ban of the right-wing magazine Compact—later overturned by a federal court on free-speech grounds—to the prosecution of journalist David Bendels for a satirical meme mocking former interior minister Nancy Faeser, a case now heading to appeal.

Taken together, these cases reveal a worrying pattern. Instead of debating rivals and rebutting criticism, mainstream parties increasingly reach for bans, regulation, and criminal law. Günther’s words are not an aberration but a symptom of a political culture in which dissent is treated as a problem to be eliminated.