Claim that Germany decriminalised possession of child abuse material is misleading
Post actually refers to a reduction in the minimum jail time one can receive in such a case
CLAIM
A post on X included a screenshot appearing to show a headline that said Germany decriminalised possession of “child pornography”. The post was reshared by Elon Musk.
BACKGROUND
The post was shared by an X account called ‘Anti Left Memes’ which has more than 44,000 followers.
Thanks to a reshare by Elon Musk, who wrote ‘Troubling’, the post had close to 5 million views, according to the X view count visible under the post.
The image featured a headline that said: “‘Pro-Pedophile’ Activist Group Celebrates As Germany Decriminalizes Child Porn Possession.”
A smaller screenshot inset in the image had a headline: “Lower minimum penalties for child pornography offences.”
Right-wing accounts were sharing content discussing the state of Germany after last week’s Christmas market attack in Magdeburg.
In that incident on Friday, December 20, a car was driven into a Christmas market in the central German city. The suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi-born doctor named as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the scene.
According to news reports, he is a self-described Saudi atheist who had been strongly critical of the German authorities for allowing too many Muslim refugees into the country.
This X post was a reply to a post about the Magdeburg attack, but was seemingly about another story — that of a purported change to the law around the possession of child abuse material.
A European Commission study in 2023 suggested that Elon Musk’s X platform is the largest host of disinformation out of six large social platforms.
Elon Musk has also frequently boosted false claims on his own account, which has more than 200 million followers. Musk is the richest individual on earth and is set to play a key role in the upcoming Trump administration in the U.S., having been named the joint head of the new Department of Government Efficiency.
METHOD
The first step in researching the purported story was to look into any recent news stories about a law change around the possession of child abuse material.
News reports from earlier this year described how the German Cabinet approved plans to reduce the minimum sentence of one year for spreading such images. The new rules see the minimum sentence reduced to six months, while the upper limit on jail time would remain at 10 years.
The minimum term for possessing or acquiring material would be reduced to three months under the plan.
The then-Minister for Justice, Marco Buschmann, gave an explanation at the time as to the reason for the change, citing “numerous problems in practice”.
He was quoted in an AP News article as saying the one-year minimum jail term was unsuitable for people who received such material involuntarily, “for example in the context of a WhatsApp parents’ group” where a parent may be warning others about material they found on their child’s phone.
It also applied to examples where teachers had “discovered child pornographic material on students’ phones and have forwarded it to alert the affected parents”. It could also involve cases where a teacher or caregiver confiscated material from students, and was therefore technically in possession.
Under German law, offences with a jail term of a year or more are counted as a felony, while shorter sentences count as misdemeanours. Felonies cannot be dropped by the prosecution service, while the lower-level misdemeanours can be. Officials said the older model with a one-year minimum term was too inflexible in practice.
The fact that some cases involving child abuse material may now be counted as misdemeanours does not mean that the material has been “decriminalized”, as they would still be dealt with in a criminal law context and could still carry a penalty of up to 10 years.
Although this claim was circulating on December 22 in the days after an attack at a German Christmas market, we also found that news agencies had carried out fact-checks on similar claims earlier this year in the months after the German parliament backed the reduced sentences.
RATING
The post featuring a headline that “child pornography” has been decriminalised is misleading, and actually refers to a reduction in the minimum jail time one can receive in such a case.
SOURCES
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Anti Left Memes: I’m extremely worried about Germany [Accessed 23 Dec. 2024].
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Elon Musk: Troubling [Accessed 23 Dec. 2024].
Vallance, C. (2023). Disinformation most active on X, formerly known as Twitter, EU says. [online] Bbc.com. [Accessed 23 Dec. 2024].
AP News. (2024). Germany will reduce the minimum sentence for child sexual abuse images, citing unintended problems. [online] [Accessed 23 Dec. 2024].
Reuters (2024). Fact Check: German lawmakers have not voted to decriminalise possessing child pornography . Reuters. [online] 19 Jun. [Accessed 23 Dec. 2024].