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Initially upvoted because it's disturbing, but can anyone corroborate this story? There are no mainstream mentions of this story or this person Thomas Vierhaus,

Initially upvoted because it's disturbing, but can anyone corroborate this story? There are no mainstream mentions of this story or this person Thomas Vierhaus, and I am using the word "mainstream" pretty liberally. The only mention I can find is an all-German article in The Epoch Times, which is far from a mainstream source of news [0]. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times

Winblows11 1y ago
I wouldn't trust "reclaimthenet.org" after reading this HN post 9 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44953549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44953549
SanjayMehta 1y ago
https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2025/goering-eckardt-beleidigt-mann-droht-fuenfstellige-geldstrafe/ https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2025/goering-ec...
sharpshadow 1y ago
It became a very common thing recently that German politians are working together with companies which scan social media sites for posts with insults and file cease and desist orders with money penalities or taking it even further to court. Check for Robert Habeck and Strack-Zimmermann for example which both served over 1000 of those earning hundreds of thousands euros. The case with Thomas Vierhaus is even quite old but he apperently refused to pay and got a Strafbefehl now which he appealed.
- jihadjihad 1y ago
  Again, where are the sources for any of these claims? These are unsubstantiated by evidence.
  - Tarsul 1y ago
    German article about Robert Habeck and Twitter, unfortunately paylocked but the first 10 lucky ones can click my gift link: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/robert-habeck-hausdurchsuchung-bei-rentner-wegen-beleidigung-ist-die-aufregung-gerechtfertigt-a-6c1fd247-12ce-498d-8f64-984a02ccf2da?giftToken=7281e53c-60b6-421c-a34f-d8aefeab9432 https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/robert-habeck-hausdur...
marcusverus 1y ago
The Epoch Times article[0] cites an article by Apollo News[0]. I'm not particularly familiar with either. This appears to be Mr Vierhous's X handle: https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus, which includes a retweet of a tweet by someone claiming to be handling this case on Thomas' behalf and this tweet[2] which appears to show the citation he was served. If it's a ruse, they've gone through a lot of trouble. [0] https://archive.is/mDQ3u https://archive.is/mDQ3u [1] https://archive.is/SEyzo https://archive.is/SEyzo [2] https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus/status/1957345154420895946 https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus/status/1957345154420895946
- jihadjihad 1y ago
  > If it's a ruse, they've gone through a lot of trouble. Apollo News [1] has a Controversies section on the German Wikipedia in which the same Green Party member mentioned in TFA whom the "German Economist" allegedly posted on X about (Katrin Göring-Eckardt) had statements which "were 'distorted beyond recognition' in a TikTok video by Apollo News." I'd say that their entire business is going through trouble for ruses like these, and that therefore they are not worth our time. 1: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_News https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_News
  - hitekker 1y ago
    Apollo News sounds like German Fox News. But it looks like the citation behind "distorted beyond recognition" is itself misleading. The fact-check admits: > At a discussion event, Green Party politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt advocated for networks where East Germans who have problems with right-wing relatives can register The rest of the cited fact check searches for technicalities to diminish Apollo's conclusion that the politician wanted "denunciation of relatives". In my reckoning, the politician's rhetoric was not "distorted beyond recognition"; rather, the consequence of their rhetoric was highlighted. IMHO, I wouldn't dismiss semi-reputable news sources so easily. I think it's valuable to hear the other side (https://ground.news/blindspot https://ground.news/blindspot) especially when the fact-checkers/media on my side prefer that I just swallow the party line.
  - marcusverus 1y ago

Winblows11 1y ago

I wouldn't trust "reclaimthenet.org" after reading this HN post 9 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44953549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44953549

SanjayMehta 1y ago

https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2025/goering-eckardt-beleidigt-mann-droht-fuenfstellige-geldstrafe/ https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2025/goering-ec...

sharpshadow 1y ago

It became a very common thing recently that German politians are working together with companies which scan social media sites for posts with insults and file cease and desist orders with money penalities or taking it even further to court. Check for Robert Habeck and Strack-Zimmermann for example which both served over 1000 of those earning hundreds of thousands euros. The case with Thomas Vierhaus is even quite old but he apperently refused to pay and got a Strafbefehl now which he appealed.

jihadjihad 1y ago
Again, where are the sources for any of these claims? These are unsubstantiated by evidence.
- Tarsul 1y ago
  German article about Robert Habeck and Twitter, unfortunately paylocked but the first 10 lucky ones can click my gift link: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/robert-habeck-hausdurchsuchung-bei-rentner-wegen-beleidigung-ist-die-aufregung-gerechtfertigt-a-6c1fd247-12ce-498d-8f64-984a02ccf2da?giftToken=7281e53c-60b6-421c-a34f-d8aefeab9432 https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/robert-habeck-hausdur...

marcusverus 1y ago

The Epoch Times article[0] cites an article by Apollo News[0]. I'm not particularly familiar with either. This appears to be Mr Vierhous's X handle: https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus, which includes a retweet of a tweet by someone claiming to be handling this case on Thomas' behalf and this tweet[2] which appears to show the citation he was served. If it's a ruse, they've gone through a lot of trouble. [0] https://archive.is/mDQ3u https://archive.is/mDQ3u [1] https://archive.is/SEyzo https://archive.is/SEyzo [2] https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus/status/1957345154420895946 https://x.com/ThomasVierhaus/status/1957345154420895946

jihadjihad 1y ago
> If it's a ruse, they've gone through a lot of trouble. Apollo News [1] has a Controversies section on the German Wikipedia in which the same Green Party member mentioned in TFA whom the "German Economist" allegedly posted on X about (Katrin Göring-Eckardt) had statements which "were 'distorted beyond recognition' in a TikTok video by Apollo News." I'd say that their entire business is going through trouble for ruses like these, and that therefore they are not worth our time. 1: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_News https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_News
- hitekker 1y ago
  Apollo News sounds like German Fox News. But it looks like the citation behind "distorted beyond recognition" is itself misleading. The fact-check admits: > At a discussion event, Green Party politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt advocated for networks where East Germans who have problems with right-wing relatives can register The rest of the cited fact check searches for technicalities to diminish Apollo's conclusion that the politician wanted "denunciation of relatives". In my reckoning, the politician's rhetoric was not "distorted beyond recognition"; rather, the consequence of their rhetoric was highlighted. IMHO, I wouldn't dismiss semi-reputable news sources so easily. I think it's valuable to hear the other side (https://ground.news/blindspot https://ground.news/blindspot) especially when the fact-checkers/media on my side prefer that I just swallow the party line.
- marcusverus 1y ago