Overview

• Berlin’s data protection authority imposed the fine on the CDU Steglitz-Zehlendorf association for violations tied to a 2021 election letter promoting Bundestag candidate Thomas Heilmann.
• Regulators say the letter created a misleading impression that endorsements were sent directly by the named public figures.
• Addresses were taken from the registration database, retrieved by the district association, and passed to an advertising provider that was commissioned to conduct the mass mailing.
• The notice cites breaches of three GDPR articles and consists of six individual penalties totaling €65,000.
• CDU district chair Stefan Standfuß said the notice arrived during the summer break and that the association considers the sanction unjustified; Tagesspiegel reported 133,980 voters received the letters.