German authorities have launched an investigation against a pensioner who called Chancellor Friedrich Merz “Pinocchio” on social media. The case is drawing criticism from US President Donald Trump’s administration.
In October 2025, the man saw a post on the local police’s Facebook page informing that Merz would participate in an event with Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, in the city of Heilbronn. The man commented on the post and wrote: “Pinocchio is coming to HN [Heilbronn]” followed by a long-nosed emoji.
In January the following year, he received a letter from the criminal police stating that he was being investigated under Article 188 of Germany’s penal code, which criminalizes insults and defamation against politicians “if the crime is likely to significantly impair their public work.” Violations can be punished by up to five years in prison.
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In response to the police, the pensioner wrote that his comment was “an ambiguous, symbolic, and satirical expression of opinion in a political context” and should be protected by constitutional freedom of speech.
American criticism
The law has become one of the most prominent symbols of the ideological confrontation between the Trump administration and Western European governments over freedom of speech. Sarah Rogers, US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, is critical.
“It’s not just Holocaust denial that spurs police crackdowns in Germany. This criminal investigation feels like a case of lese-majesty [insulting the monarch under older law],” Rogers writes on X, adding that most Germans she has spoken to do not want their laws to be applied in this way. She also notes that the restriction on free speech is being enforced on American platforms:
According to police in Heilbronn, they filter all comments on their Facebook posts for possible prosecutable insults and forward them to the city’s prosecutors. However, the case involving the pensioner and the Merz comment is said to have been dropped.