Debate on digital police powers after Magdeburg attack

Following the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, which left five people dead and over 200 injured, a debate has broken out about the consequences for security policy. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said on Sunday that the federal authorities were "turning over every stone". The aim was to piece together a picture of the perpetrator, "who does not fit into any previous grid." The right conclusions must then be drawn from this.

In an interview with "Der Spiegel", Faeser also called for the swift adoption of the security package, among other things: "All of our draft laws could be passed immediately if the CDU/CSU and FDP do not refuse to do so." The so-called security package, which was passed by the Bundestag in the autumn but rejected by the federal states as too weak, with extensive central database and facial recognition powers for the BKA and federal police, is currently stuck in the parliamentary process.

"Once there are reliable findings, the parties of the democratic center should discuss the consequences together," demanded the former Federal Minister of Justice and FDP Secretary General Marco Buschmann. Representatives of the CDU, such as parliamentary group deputy Thorsten Frei, demanded that IP data retention must now come – a demand that the federal states had jointly raised via the Bundesrat when they rejected the parts of the security package that were to regulate the new, extended powers.

On Monday afternoon, the Bundestag's Committee on Internal Affairs is to be informed about the current status of the investigation. Manuel Höferlin (FDP) told heise online that the MPs do not yet know all the background information: "I don't believe in making rash claims without knowing all the facts."

Powers already available today

There are already a number of ways in which police authorities can deal with content found on social media. In cases of suspected terrorism, the so-called Terrorism Content Online Ordinance comes into play, under which the Federal Criminal Police Office can order the removal of content from hosting services such as social media platforms, an option that the authority makes extensive use of. At the same time, the Digital Services Act has created an obligation for operators to actively report content to the BKA if there is a suspicion of danger to life, limb or freedom. An inquiry to the Wiesbaden authority as to whether one of the regulations applied here remained unanswered for the time being this morning.

Why the authorities did not take stronger measures against the perpetrator of the Magdeburg attack, who was apparently known to them, is also the subject of the subsequent federal and state investigations. An example from Bremerhaven, reported on by NDR and dpa, shows that there is another way: According to the report, a man had announced on TikTok that he wanted to kill people of southern appearance at a Christmas market. The 67-year-old was then provisionally arrested.

(vbr)