The German censorship network
How 330 actors shape digital spaces of opinion
Annekatrin Mücke, EPOCH TIMES
A new liber-net investigation reveals the densely interwoven web of state, private and civil-society organisations that influence digital content in Germany – reigniting the debate about freedom of expression.
What had been announced as an ordinary press conference turned out, on 21 November 2025 in Berlin, to be an explosive evening for everyone concerned with digital freedom of expression. In the packed “Sprechsaal”, the Australian researcher Andrew Lowenthal, founder of liber-net, presented a comprehensive study of the “German censorship network”. For the first time in such depth, the new analysis shows how more than 330 organisations – from authorities and NGOs to media houses and private communications firms – are interlinked in Germany in order to monitor, classify or remove digital content.
Lowenthal stresses: not all those involved actively censor, but many act in the way the state wants or cooperate with state-funded opinion-makers. Particularly explosive: Germany defines “disinformation” much more strictly than other EU countries and puts it close to hybrid threats – up to accusations of treason. This creates real legal risks for citizens and scientists, as prominent cases show.
The liber-net graphics reveal a control network unique in Europe, with Berlin at its centre. They provide a background to the growing concern of many people that they can no longer express their opinion freely for fear of the consequences.
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Photo: Ladanifer/iStock, illustration: Juklin Lam/Epoch Times
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