First major internet block in Germany for terrorist propaganda

This is just a quickly typed post to update on a recently changed situation.

Al-Manar TV blocked by German ISPs

Before net-neutrality was a thing, and ISPs just did whatever they wanted to do, there were a few blocks, similar to that, in the past (we are talking about the 2000s here). But for the first time in modern history, the biggest ISPs in Germany (Telekom, Vodafone, 1&1, ...) have been forced to block websites not related to child protection or EU sanctions. The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah runs the channel "Al-Manar TV", which also has a website, where they had been spreading hate speech and terrorist propaganda.
The German government already outlawed the channel in 2008 for unconstitutional content, but it simply continued to operate online.

On December 18, 2024, the Commission for Youth Media Protection (KJM) apparently ordered ISPs to block both the Arabic and English versions of Al-Manar TV's website. We were able to find two domains affected under these blocks. The ISPs now won't resolve those domains anymore.

Until now, German internet blocks have only targeted websites violating child protection laws (like porn sites without proper age verification), or sites affected by EU sanctions against Russia. However, those previous blocking attempts were largely ineffective, with operators quickly bypassing them using new domains¹.

Opinion

While blocking terrorist propaganda like Al-Manar may seem like a good step to keep harmful content off the internet, I'm concerned about where this might lead. We can all agree this content is harmful, but this can lead to drastic consequences. Blocking "unconstitutional" content could lead to more censorship in the future, possibly affecting other types of speech that just don't match what the government or most people think. What starts with blocking terrorism could end up limiting free speech more than what's actually needed to keep people safe.

Sources