Germany moves to gut its freedom of information law
Surveillance control · 02.10.2026

Germany is preparing a reform after which the Freedom of Information Act could easily be renamed the Freedom from Information Act. Former Federal Data Protection Commissioner Ulrich Kelber called the coalition's plans "democratically and politically wrong," and the security argument "nonsense."

The essence of the reversal is simple: currently, the state must explain why it's withholding information. After the reform, it will be the citizen who has to explain why they even need to know. Kelber calls things by their name: this is a return to "the master-state mindset." Meanwhile, surveillance of citizens isn't going anywhere — the state is simply becoming transparent to itself, not to us.

Money is a separate story. Currently, the cap on request fees is 500 euros. They want to remove it and tie fees to actual costs. Kelber tested this himself: he filed a request for documents allegedly proving expenses of hundreds of thousands of euros on other requests. Two and a half months later, he got a letter about "very, very high fees" — and silence on every follow-up question. That's a preview of how the system will work for everyone else who doesn't hold the status of a former commissioner.

Legal entities are also set to be cut off — NGOs, associations, and media outlets themselves won't be able to file requests anymore. Yet it was precisely through this law that the Spahn mask scandal, the grants affair, and Economy Minister Reiche's ties to big business came to light. Journalist Arne Semsrot points out directly: without this law, some of these stories would simply never have become public.

The argument about bureaucratic overload doesn't add up either: Germany had about 18,600 requests last year, while the US, under a similar law, had 1.7 million — with a population only four times larger. In other words, German bureaucracy isn't choking on a flood of requests, but on its unwillingness to answer them.

As Carsten Neumann, former commissioner of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, noted, in Sweden you've been able to read the king's tax return in the newspaper since 1766. He wouldn't mind taking a look at Chancellor Merz's tax return either — but, as he himself admits, Germany will certainly never get there.

Source: https://www.heise.de/news/Glaeserner-Buerger-geheimer-Staat-Informationsfreiheitgesetz-in-Gefahr-11474799.html