Free Speech Debate

In this interview with Free Speech Debate, Claudia Roth, co-chair of the German Green Party, says that government encroachments into the internet often go too far and display a lack of understanding about how the technology works. On privacy, which is deeply embedded in German law, she expects “informational self-determination” even on the internet. “Freedom is important but the freedom to have one’s data protected is equally important,” she says. The second half of the interview focuses on Holocaust denial, which is criminalised in Germany. Roth concedes that criminalisation is not an effective way of eradicating fascist ideologies: “You can’t ban thoughts. Rather, one has to confront them in a democratic way.”