The latest podcast with Stefan Brink and Niko Härting is about freedom of expression.
Firstly, we talk (01:02) about the Distance Learning Protection Act (FernUSG). Last year, the Federal Court of Justice caused considerable unrest (judgement of 12.6.2025, ref. III ZR 109/24 7.8.2025), because some people deduced from this that each of these events required approval under the FernUSG. Now the BGH (judgement of 5 February 2026, case no. III ZR 137/25) has clarified: The FernUSG is to be interpreted by means of a teleological reduction to the effect that the teacher and the learner are only to be regarded as spatially separated and the law only applies if “no synchronous communication” takes place. Great.
Next up (12:26) is the new book by Ronen Steinke, senior editor in the politics section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Freedom of opinion: How the police and judiciary are restricting our fundamental right – and how we are defending it” was published at the end of February. He is concerned with the question of why the number of prosecuted expression offences in Germany has been steadily increasing since 2015 – among other things, there is a new offence of insulting politicians in Section 188 of the German Criminal Code – and what this means for our democratic community.
Finally (35:40), we discuss two favourable decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court of 11 and 16 December 2025, which classified the acceptance of insults by specialist courts for so-called defamatory criticism as a violation of Article 5 of the Basic Law. So much freedom of expression was rare – so no reason to say goodbye to it after all!