‘Freedom of expression has its limits’: Watch Angela Merkel address German parliament

German chancellor Angela Merkel’s speech has sparked an age-old debate.

In an unusually emotional speech to the German Bundestag, Germany’s national parliament, German chancellor Angela Merkel talked of free speech in a way that has left some social media users confused (video above).

Describing a distinction between “extreme speech” and free speech, Merkel said that freedom of expression must “have its limits,” adding that without opposing extreme speech, “our society will no longer be the free society that it was.”

Germany has clamped extremely strict controls on social media companies, ordering steep fines and even imprisonment for inaction on hate speech.

Many have responded to the clip with the argument that freedom of speech and expression is either total, or it is not freedom at all. Others, however, feel that her views are balanced.

Here are some of the responses.

Also read

What is common to Narendra Modi, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Theresa May, Emmanuel Macron?

Can extreme speech online be regulated without curbing free speech? This series finds out

Also watch

‘Tear down walls of ignorance, nothing has to stay as it is’: Watch Angela Merkel speak at Harvard

Angela Merkel has a political problem on hand, but does she have an eyeroll problem too?