You may have seen this shocking post at some point on Tuesday:
Germany's Parliament has officially voted to decriminalize the possession of child pornography.
And you may have also seen this community note appended to the tweet itself:
This is a complete misrepresentation. The law prevents people from going to jail for simply reporting child porn. teachers, parents etc. would otherwise be unable to present proof without going to jail.
It's not often we say this, since Community Notes tends to be pretty on-point, but in this case the note is 100% wrong.
Reduxx's reporting is not a "complete misrepresentation." It is 100% accurate. Germany did just decriminalize child porn possession.
Here's Reduxx:
Germany's Parliament (Bundestag) has received the votes necessary to remove a section of the Criminal Code which made the possession of child sexual abuse materials a felony crime. Once the bill, passed last Thursday, comes into effect, minimum sentences for the possession of child pornography will be reduced, and the offense will be downgraded to a misdemeanor.
According to the Bundestag, the bill stipulates that 'possession and acquisition should be punishable with a minimum penalty of three months' imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months' imprisonment. The offenses regulated in Section 184b of the Criminal Code are therefore classified as misdemeanors and not as crimes.'
In case it were unclear, the Bundestag's note on the bill spells it out with equal precision: The law stipulates "lower minimum penalties for child pornography offences," namely that the "possession and acquisition [of child porn] should in future be punishable by a minimum sentence of three months imprisonment, the distribution by a minimum sentence of six months imprisonment." The bill repeals the 2021 law that classified child porn possession as a felony.
Notice what is obviously missing from the legislation: Any sort of stipulation that the law is meant to protect people who are merely "reporting child porn."
If they wanted to do that, the German parliament would have simply had to amend the existing code: "No part of this law should be taken to prosecute people who are reporting child pornography to the authorities," something like that. But they didn't!
Indeed, a statement from the opposition party spelled out that sensible protocol clearly:
Even if the increase in the penalty range [of child porn possession] has led to practical problems in certain cases, a blanket reduction in the penalty range is the wrong solution. A change should be limited to the problem cases and solve them effectively. Scientific findings show that if the penalty framework shifts downwards, the penalties imposed in practice also tend to be lower.
Yes, obviously: The smart solution is just to carve out exceptions for people who have done nothing wrong and indeed are working to do the right thing.
They didn't do that, though. They decriminalized all child pornography possession. No exceptions! Now why do you think they did that?
Well, maybe it has something to do with pressure from the — wait for it — pedophile lobby:
The move has already been praised by a notorious German pro-pedophile activist group. Known as Krumme-13, or simply K13, the activist group has been described as a 'self-help' organization for 'pedosexuals.'
That group was founded by noted German pedophile Dieter Gieseking, who has been busted several times on child porn charges but is somehow not permanently in prison. Gieseking has "called for lowering the age of consent to 12 years of age" and has even suggested that sex with toddlers should be considered.
(As an aside, have you seen the 2024 Pedo Management Machines? There's a great new line out this season.)
In any event, the clear obviousness of Germany's twisted new law was so obvious that Reduxx decided to nuke the stupid community note from orbit:
The @CommunityNotes is completely incorrect, and appears to have been written by a political operative who has been spamming every related post on the issue with the same misinformation.
While some in the Bundestag claimed their intention was to prevent innocent CSAM reporters from being accidentally prosecuted, the law did not single them out for amnesty.
It is a wholesale reduction in the penalties associated with the distribution, possession, or acquisition of child pornography.
Not just for those innocently reporting CSAM, but for everyone charged with the distribution, possession, or acquisition of child pornography.
The folks behind Community Notes apparently were embarrassed enough to first revise their original busted note, though this one wasn't a whole lot better:
Context: Germany only restored the previous law from 2021, allowing judges discretion to jail people for periods less than 1 year in some scenarios. E.g. parents and teachers who were trying to report child pornography, risked being jailed too, prior to the law change.
Uh huh.
By Wednesday morning the community note was gone altogether. I guess they'd had enough!
Again, the law doesn't make a carve-out for good people looking to report child porn. It just lowers the sentencing for everyone. This is clear and unambiguous.
People, never forget one of life's cardinal rules: When you're on the side of defending child porn, you've lost. Horrifically.
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