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On May 2, 2025, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) officially designated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a “proven right-wing extremist organization.” The classification followed an internal report that concluded the party fosters anti-immigrant sentiment, racism, and Islamophobia and actively undermines Germany’s democratic order.

The BfV’s designation permits authorities to use tactics to watch the party and its members, including recruiting AfD members and those connected to the party as confidential informants, known as “trusted persons.” It also allows for telecommunications monitoring in specific situations.

Germany’s far-right AfD party launched a counteroffensive on May 5, 2025, challenging its designation as a right-wing extremist organization and accusing the BfV of violating the constitution by seeking to criminalize what the AfD argues were legitimate expressions of opinion and criticism of Germany’s immigration policy over the past decade. In a statement, the party co-chairs, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, said that with their lawsuit, they were “sending a clear signal against the abuse of state power to combat and exclude the opposition.”

After receiving the AfD’s lawsuit, the BfV followed a so-called “standstill commitment” (Stillhaltezusage), putting its official reclassification of the AfD as a right-wing extremist party on hold. The action, part of the due process of Germany, which gives the court time to conduct a proper review, was classified as a victory by the AfD.

The debate around the classification of AfD arose simultaneously with conservative leader Friedrich Merz, from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), trying and barely securing the parliamentary vote to become Germany’s chancellor after an unprecedented failure in the first voting round.

Narrative: Germany is a tyranny in disguise

The people asserting this narrative frame, mostly AfD politicians and supporters, believe that the classification of the AfD as a right-wing extremist organization by the BfV is evidence of the decline of Germany's democracy.

Publicly, the AfD seeks to maintain a clear distinction between itself and Neo-Nazi organizations. Yet investigative reports showcase that the party retains relations with such organizations, and one of its current co-chairs, Alice Weidel, has been linked to Nazi heritage.

The BfV’s classification of AfD is not the first effort against the alleged unconstitutional activities of the AfD and its affiliates. Three years before, on March 22, the administrative court of Cologne had ruled that the BfV could apply such a classification. On May 13, 2024, the Münster administrative court confirmed the decision of the lower court in Cologne, permitting the BfV to classify the AfD as extremist and allowing the domestic intelligence service to keep monitoring the opposition party.

In December 2022, German police arrested 25 members of the Reichsbürger movement for plotting a monarchist coup. Among them was a former far-right AfD parliament member. Another ex-AfD lawmaker went on trial in January 2022 for inciting the overthrow of the state and participating in the 2020 protests against COVID-19 measures at the German parliament.

In January 2024, Correctiv, the nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom based in Essen and Berlin, shared an investigation on a meeting held in November 2023, where members of AfD met with a far-right network. The topics discussed at the meeting reveal a plan for forced deportations of millions of people currently living in Germany and address the issue of “ethnic vote” — foreigners who can vote and would likely support immigration-friendly parties. At the encounter, the participants also discussed an agenda to set a favorable climate, including propaganda tactics questioning elections and discrediting the constitutional court. One of the AfD attendees, Roland Hartwig, personal aide to party leader Alice Weidel, indicated the party board was willing to discuss the topics covered at the meeting.

In addition to significant voter approval, the AfD has the support of Elon Musk, who has called it a “centrist” party and has used X to promote party leader Alice Weidel, calling on Germans to forget Hitler and Nazi crimes.

How this narrative is shared online

Narrative: Germany’s democratic freedom protections are not unconditional

Those asserting this frame consider that under the basis of Germany’s commonly referred to in English as militant/defensive democracy doctrine (“Wehrhafte Demokratie” in German, also translated as resilient democracy), those who attack the fundamental democratic order must face resistance from the country’s institutions, as democracy must protect itself. They consider that the BfV's classification of the AfD as an extremist far-right organization is within the scope of action of Germany’s defensive democracy and, consequently, is coherent with the country's values.

Germany’s concept of resilient democracy emerged in response to the National Socialists’ efforts to undermine the Weimar Republic. The country’s legal framework gives the BfV the power to conduct efforts and analyze information about possible activities that oppose the democratic constitutional order, threaten the existence or security of Germany or its federal states, endanger Germany’s foreign interests through force or its preparation, or undermine international peace and understanding, especially peaceful relations between nations.

The German government has historically employed constitutional safeguards to limit the influence of parties that threaten democratic principles. In 2024, the far-right extremist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), now known as Die Heimat, was excluded from state funding for six years. This measure followed prolonged efforts to sanction and ban the party due to its anti-constitutional activities.

How this narrative is asserted online