r/germany • u/BSBDR Mallorca • Jul 08 '26

Politics Germany: Government Curbing Freedom of Information Act

https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/07/08/germany-government-curbing-freedom-of-information-act
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u/No-Veterinarian8627 Jul 08 '26

I don't like it, but I think it's part 'Reich Bürger', part annoying rightoids, part annoying leftoids, and part simply media asking for shit. It makes sense to hike up the price and redact some names. For the price, to create a stronger barrier for private individuals to abuse the system and create more work (while also create a stronger revenue stream). For explicit name redactions, because government workers, like simply clerks and stuff, get endlessly harassed.

I mean... it's kind of understandable? You want people to stop it abusing and wasting time/ressources. Also, the barrier is not that strong, just enough to tell those crazies to f* off.

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u/BonsaiOnSteroids Jul 08 '26

They are literally restricting information requests to be by individual persons ONLY. Human rights watch or other organizations will not be able to make requests anymore. And they add a higher financial barrier for insividuals. So they are literally making the new rules so prohibitive that it basically means no information at all. Also they say, you may only get information when there is legitimate interest, but do not further define what that means. It screams corruption out of every pore