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Jan Böhmermann’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were unavailable since Friday afternoon. “This account does not exist” is what it says on Twitter when you try to access the satirist’s account. With 2.2 million followers, Böhmermann’s account was one of the largest Twitter accounts in Germany. Böhmermann had more than 700,000 subscribers on Instagram.
At around 11.30am on Friday, Böhmermann had published a conspiracy-style post: “This is a secret elite that rules the world, determines us, and does EVERYTHING to prevent us from talking openly about it,” he wrote. Bohemian man.
On Thursday evening, a channel called “REAL JAN BÖHMERMANN” was opened on the Telegram messaging service, gaining more and more followers as Friday progressed. So far it is not clear if this is really a Böhmermann related account. Böhmermann has not yet responded to the corresponding request from SPIEGEL.
Suggestions from the QAnon world
It would be conceivable that Böhmermann used a staged satirical reaction to chart the path taken by celebrities like Michael Wendler or Attila Hildmann, who entered the milieu of conspiracy believers. Singer Wendler, for example, has been broadcasting his ideological conspiracy statements about the corona virus for a few weeks on a newly founded Telegram channel. In the environment of conspiracy supporters, Telegram is an alternative to platforms such as Facebook, where extremist and dangerous content is more likely to be removed, unlike Telegram.
The channel description of the new Telegram channel “REAL JAN BÖHMERMANN” is clearly based on the language of the ideologues of the conspiracy with statements such as “Send inside information”. It would also be possible that Böhmermann published a video of the song “White Rabbit” in one of his last tweets. The white rabbit from “Alice in Wonderland” is a motif regularly used by the ideological conspiracy movement QAnon (read more about QAnon here).
The QAnon movement often works with innuendo and, as a kind of participatory conspiracy with a baffling character, it can apparently attract some supporters particularly effectively.
Böhmermann criticizes the handling of Telegram
An interview with Böhmermann appeared on Friday morning on T-Online, in which he warned of the dangers of Telegram and the conspiracy myths of crown deniers circulating there. The messaging application is an unregulated space in which the state “has no idea” of what is happening in it. “But as long as the state does not buckle up and as long as it does not intervene there, it does not see what is happening there, we can and must accept that as a reality.”
In fact, it is extremely difficult for investigating authorities to take action against criminal content on Telegram. German researchers are unable to contact the platform operators. The Network Enforcement Law initiated against hate speech and other criminal content on social media does not apply to Telegram. This is because the service as a messenger is not subject to the rules of the law for social media platforms, although the platform now functions as a social network due to numerous additional functions, at least on its public channels.
Telegram itself rarely removes content. Videos of the right-wing terrorist attacks in Halle and Christchurch were still online months after the attacks on Telegram.
After all, German investigators recently managed to take over various criminal chat groups on Telegram. It is said that they were used for drug trafficking.
Telegram’s satire as a public relations campaign?
It is not yet known whether Böhmermann’s accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were intentionally shut down or temporarily disabled. However, it seems extremely unlikely that the accounts have been hacked, as has been speculated at times.
If the closure of his social media accounts and Telegram account is really attributed to Böhmermann, that would be a typical ad campaign for the satirist, this time for broadcast on the main ZDF show. It starts in a few days.
