Media lawyer Steinhöfel shares tricks: How to make life hell for the GEZ

The lawyer and media attorney Joachim Steinhöfel has shared an indirect call for disruption of the work processes at the public broadcasting contribution service via the X platform – with potentially massive consequences for the public broadcaster.

In his article, the lawyer quotes a "good acquaintance" who explains how one can disrupt the public broadcaster's operations through bank transfers. According to Steinhöfel, the person learned from a friend who works at the Contributions Service that targeted bank transfers can significantly slow down the fee collection offices' processes.

According to Steinhöfel's post, it's enough to transfer one cent to the account of a fake state broadcasting corporation. So, payers living in North Rhine-Westphalia transfer one cent to the Saarland State Broadcasting Corporation. "Then garnish the fee numbers with characters like ... or * or # in the transfer reference," Steinhöfel quoted the unknown person as saying. The result: The incorrect transfer has to be processed manually, costing the clerks time.

"Time spent per entry is approximately 15 minutes," Steinhöfel quotes his "good friend," who, with his statement, indirectly calls for civil disobedience against public broadcasting. Steinhöfel's post is prompted by the debate surrounding presenter Jan Böhmermann , who revealed the name of the right-wing influencer "Clownie" on his show "ZDF Magazin Royale."