Overview
- Interior Minister René Wilke told the Landtag the covert profiles are permitted under the Verfassungsschutzgesetz and necessary to detect extremist networks and potential plots.
- The Interior Ministry confirmed the operation of 287 accounts on various platforms after repeated parliamentary questions and a successful court challenge compelled fuller disclosure.
- A motion from the AfD, supported by BSW, to delete or prohibit the fake accounts was defeated by a majority in the state parliament.
- Wilke cited examples he says were prevented through online intelligence work, including a planned attack in Leverkusen and assaults on police by Islamist extremists.
- AfD lawmakers and BSW legislator Sven Hornauf are pursuing constitutional complaints over withheld information, and the Parliamentary Control Commission plans to address the matter in its next report.