60 Minutes Downplays Free Speech Harms of German Hate Speech Prosecutions
60 Minutes ignores the dangers of speech crackdowns in Europe, even as CBS faces its own free speech battles.
One of the most viewed television news programs in the United States reported on a government program that prosecutes thousands of people simply due to what they have posted online. And it provided not even a scintilla of concern for the free speech implications.
On Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes, reporter Sharyn Alfonsi reported on Germany’s “coordinated effort to curb online hate speech.” Alfonsi had a front-row seat to this effort, as she participated in COPS-style ride-alongs as German police raided people’s homes and seized their electronic devices.
Without displaying a shred of concern about giving the government power to prosecute people for online speech, Alfonsi devoted much of the segment to an interview with three German hate speech prosecutors. They told her it is a crime to insult people in public, and the penalties can be higher if the speech is online.
“Because in internet, it stays there,” one prosecutor said. “If we are talking face to face, you insult me, I insult you, okay. Finish. But if you’re in the internet, if I insult you or a politician…” [sic]
“It sticks around forever,” Alfonsi concluded.
Yet Alfonsi displayed no concern, asking instead about the reactions of people when their cell phones are seized, the severity of the crimes, and how the police and prosecutors build their case against online posters.
Alfonsi failed to mention egregious examples of German authorities stretching the definition of “hate speech” and “public insult,” such as a recent prosecution of a man for using a poop emoji to describe Germany’s Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and the raid of a Berlin woman’s home after she posted “from the river to the sea” on her social media accounts.
Alfonsi highlighted a 2021 police raid against someone who called a German politician a word for a male body part. “So it sounds like you’re saying, ‘It’s okay to criticize a politician’s policy’ but not to say ‘I think you’re a jerk and an idiot?’” Alfonsi asked.
“Exactly,” the prosecutor said. “Comments like ‘You’re a son of a bitch.’ Excuse me for using, but those words has nothing to do with a political discussions or a contribution to a discussion.” [sic]
Still, Alfonsi was not alarmed that prosecutors had the unilateral discretion to determine whether an online discussion about a politician constituted a “contribution to a discussion.”
Alfonsi also highlighted the case of a German politician who sued Meta to cause the company to remove fake quotes that were attributed to her. “After all this, are you seeing less hateful comments now on your social media feeds?” Alfonsi asked
“Yes,” the politician responded, “there are less hateful comments. And there was one tweet which says, ‘Don’t say that to her, she would take you to court.’”
“You might sue them,” Alfonsi concluded.
A balanced news article would, at the very least, quote a free speech advocate who is alarmed by a politician chilling online speech with the specter of a lawsuit — something that might be of concern to a news organization currently facing an FCC investigation and lawsuit over its editing of an interview with a presidential candidate.
But such viewpoints were entirely missing in the 60 Minutes piece. Instead, Alfonsi featured an interview with Josephine Ballon of HateAid, who was concerned that some companies are not complying with the Digital Services Act, a new European law that threatens platforms with massive fines if they do not adequately develop procedures to respond to harmful content.
Alfonsi noted that such prosecutions and regulations would be impossible in the United States. But she strongly implied that Germany is taking the better course. “In the United States, most of what anyone says, sends, or streams online – even if it’s hate-filled or toxic – is protected by the First Amendment,” she said. “But Germany is trying to bring some civility to the world wide web by policing it in a way most Americans could never imagine.”
To 60 Minutes, one of the most storied news organizations in the United States, the First Amendment is a bug and not a feature. And that should worry us all.
Jeff Kosseff is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at The Future of Free Speech and the author of the new book Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation.
What is perhaps even more repugnant is that the prosecutors are not only left unchallenged and show no sign of concern but go on to snigger and squirm while ordering house raids over cartoons, seemingly reveling in the grotesque fact that an investigative measure inflicts a harsher penalty than the actual sentence—all unfolding in an environment that feels like the harmless casting set of an '80s soap opera. This, in 2025, comes as close as it gets to the banality of evil.
Regardless of which side your on, if you do value free speech, you might find this interesting.
https://open.substack.com/pub/pimentomori/p/my-experience-with-invasion-of-suppression?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5783cf