Germany’s CDU Pushes Real-Name Social Media Mandate and ID Checks
The party could ask Germans to show their papers before they can post a tweet
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | February 14, 2026
Germany’s governing CDU is preparing to discuss a proposal that would fundamentally alter the architecture of online speech by tying it to verified real-world identities.
At the upcoming federal party congress in Stuttgart on February 20 and 21, the Schleswig-Holstein branch of the Christian Democratic Union, the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, will push not only for a minimum age for social media (which would require users to show ID) but for a “Klarnamenpflicht” that would require users to register with their real names and confirmed identities.
This identity mandate is key to the motion. The state association led by Minister President Daniel Günther argues: “A real-name requirement creates greater accountability, facilitates legal enforcement, and strengthens trust in digital discourse.”
It further claims that such a rule would strengthen protection for young people online. The proposal also states: “The anonymity of the internet fosters hatred, incitement, and criminal behavior.”
If adopted, the requirement would compel platforms to authenticate users against official identification or comparable verification systems. Age checks for minors would likely depend on the same infrastructure. That means collecting and storing legally attributable identity data at scale. Anonymous or pseudonymous participation would no longer be the default condition of online engagement.
Alongside the real-name demand, the motion calls for “a statutory minimum age of 16 years for open platforms, flanked by mandatory age verification.” A ban for those under 16 takes “into account the special developmental needs of young people,” the text explains, citing the “Australian model” as a template.
Australia enacted such legislation in December 2025, requiring platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and X to block accounts belonging to millions of users under 16 and introduce ID checks.
The CDU motion frames its broader objective as a need to “organize the digital public sphere.” It declares: “The CDU stands for a free, but responsible digital order.” It also states that freedom of expression requires state “Leitplanken” (guardrails).
General Secretary Carsten Linnemann has publicly endorsed the age restriction. “I am in favor of social media from the age of 16,” he told Bild newspaper. “We must protect children in the digital world from hate, violence, crime, and manipulative disinformation.”
Within the coalition government, consensus is not guaranteed. Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig of the Social Democratic Party of Germany has indicated openness to the concept, while other Social Democrats oppose it.
The CDU’s motion commission recommends referring the proposal to internal party bodies, including the Federal Committee for Digital Affairs and the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, before any legislative step.
The European Commission has warned that additional national platform obligations beyond the Digital Services Act are a “clear no-go,” adding: “The DSA regulates that.”
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Book Review
Jeffrey Epstein: A Jewish Individual?
The Occidental Observer | February 5, 2023
One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union between Intelligence and Organized Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein (Volume 1 & 2) by Whitney Webb
“Far from being an anomaly, Epstein was one of several men who, over the past century, have engaged in sexual blackmail activities designed to obtain damaging information (i.e., “intelligence”) on powerful individuals with the goal of controlling their activities and securing their compliance.”[1]
Jeffrey Epstein is dead and Ghislaine Maxwell is locked away in prison, and the thought-makers of our world seem keen to let the more explosive parts of the scandal dissipate from the public consciousness. As far as the mainstream media is concerned, Epstein and Maxwell were little more than well-connected socialites who ran a sex-trafficking ring for the rich and the powerful, and the focus has shifted instead to the criminal and civil cases seeking to achieve redress for the victims of sexual abuse.
On occasion some newspaper articles will mention the hidden cameras littered across Epstein’s properties, others the reams of CDs and hard drives found within them during the FBI raids. Altogether missing from the Netflix documentaries (Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich [2020] and Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich [2022]) or the articles that spend their time narrowly focusing on the links between Epstein and Bill Gates, is the acknowledgement of the true nature of Epstein himself and the ultimate purpose of this sex-trafficking of minors — a sexual blackmail operation.
Not everyone is cowardly enough to let these controversial aspects lie untouched, as the newly released two-volume book One Nation Under Blackmail by independent reporter Whitney Webb seeks to blow wide open this media-enforced blackout. Utilizing primarily open-source information (that is, publicly accessible information such as books, newspapers articles and government reports),[2] Webb’s book delves into the life and times of Jeffrey Epstein and his deep ties to Jewish billionaires and Israeli intelligence. … continue
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