Overview
- Alice Weidel’s counsel sent a cease‑and‑desist to the Weimer Media Group, alleging hundreds of copyright breaches at The European and citing German UrhG §§16 and 19a, with threats of civil action and a possible criminal complaint.
- The European rejects systematic violations, characterizes many items as documentary postings of public speeches, concedes possible sourcing errors, and says all entries under Weidel’s name have been removed.
- Reports describe years of full‑text postings under prominent names and the creation of author pages, with one analysis noting 991 profiles ranging from German leaders to foreign figures; some pages were later deleted but remain in web archives.
- AfD politicians escalate the political pressure, with culture spokesman Götz Frömming urging Wolfram Weimer to step down if the allegations are not dispelled, as Weidel’s lawyers also argue potential criminal relevance for mass exploitation.
- The dispute intensifies shortly after Weimer’s Buchmesse broadside against U.S. and Chinese tech firms and his push for a digital tax, which The European suggests has prompted a politically driven campaign.