Vice -President JD Vance continued his defense of free speech on Monday and criticized German judicial officers who explain their efforts to combat the freedom of expression in Germany.
CBS had a sympathetic look at German government efforts to combat 'hate speech' in an episode of 60 minutes on Sunday.
German prosecutors explained the reporter how surprised German citizens are when they are arrested for the online posting of offensive content, but said it was necessary.
But Vance did not agree.
“Insulting someone is not a crime and criminalizing speech will really strain relationships between Europe-us,” said the vice-president.
The German public prosecutors explained that anyone who shares or hears offensive or hateful content would be prosecuted and fined, seized their telephones and even imprisoned them.
In recent years, Germany has performed their police on online speech.
But Vance is not a fan.
Vice-president JD Vance of the United States addresses the public during the Munich Security Conference
“This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the US has to reject this madness,” he replied.
The CBS interview contained comments from Josephine Ballon, the CEO of Hateaid, who was in favor of the improved online speech enforcement.
“Free speech needs limits and in the case of Germany these boundaries are part of our constitution,” she said. “Without borders, a very small group of people can rely on endless freedom to say something they want, while everyone else is scared and intimidated.”
Vance's comment received support from the Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis van Wyoming, who shared it on X.
“If this continues, Europe is on its way to a second dark era and the contrast with the American Golden Age will become all the more grim,” she added. “Which way Western husband?”
Vance also responded to a video clip from CBS's Face the Nation Gastheer Margaret Brennan after she had suggested in an interview with State Secretary Marco Rubio that Lax Free Speech laws in Germany gave rise to the Holocaust.
Brennan said Rubio that while Vance spoke in Germany about the importance of freedom of expression, “he was in a country where free speech was armed to feed a genocide,” referring to the horrors of Nazi Germany.
Margaret Brennan interviews Marco Rubio Minister of Foreign Affairs on CBS Face the Nation
American Vice President JD Vance (C), his wife Usha Vance (L) and ABBA Naor, a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp during a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp commemorative place in Germany
“This is a crazy exchange,” noted Vance on X. “Does the media really think that the Holocaust was caused by free speech?”
Vance's position on the issue echoed his speech at the Munich safety conference on Friday, in which he seemed European leaders for their attempts to censor people online.
“Freedom, I fear, is recovering,” he said, and emphasized some of the more serious examples of the European governments that arrest citizens for placing content on the internet.
He promised to reverse online censorship, of which he admitted that he also took place under former President Joe Biden.
“Just as the Biden administration desperately seemed to silence people because they have spoken to their mind, so the Trump government will do exactly the opposite, and I hope we can work together,” he said.
