Merz has filed 5,000 complaints against online critics – media
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has filed nearly 5,000 defamation complaints over online comments, Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday.
The newspaper said it had obtained copies of the complaints, police files, and letters from law firms representing the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The complaints date from 2021 to February 2025, when Merz was serving as a member of the Bundestag.
The angry comments that prompted investigations included insults such as “a**hole” and “filthy drunk,” and in at least one case a search of a defendant’s home was later declared unlawful by a court.
In another case, police searched the home of an elderly wheelchair-bound woman who had called Merz a “little Nazi,” and confiscated the phone she used to communicate with doctors and caregivers.
The number of complaints makes Merz “one of the most sensitive politicians” in Germany’s history, Welt am Sonntag said.
A lawyer representing one of the defendants described the investigation as “a complete overreaction of the justice system.”
Merz’s approval rating has dropped to 22%, a record low, according to a recent Forsa poll. The coalition government has struggled with the cost-of-living crisis and has been marred by bitter infighting over immigration, as well as pension and military service reforms.
