Cities monetize private information of residents and share it with third parties.
In a controversial move, several German city administrations have been selling access to the address data of their citizens for election campaigns, generating significant administrative fees in the process.
The AfD, a prominent political party, paid 2,000 euros to the Dortmund city administration for access to the address data of around 26,000 first-time and young voters during the recent election campaign. Interestingly, the last time Dortmund provided such data was in the federal election campaign in 2021, to the Greens, also for 2,000 euros. In the current municipal election campaign in Dortmund, the city administration has only provided data to the AfD, not to other parties.
Berlin, too, has been generating approximately 30,000 euros in administrative fees by providing address data to various parties for repeated elections. This includes the European election in 2024 and the federal election in 2025.
Munich has a history of providing about 340,000 data sets to various parties for a fee, generating approximately 34,000 euros for the city administration. This was the case before the federal election in 2021, the European election in 2024, and the state election in 2023.
Hamburg has emphasized that address data is not "sold" but rather "made available for a fee." However, the data protection officer in Hamburg states that the release of data is a legal but debatable practice from a data protection perspective. They suggest that the information obligations and choices for citizens could be improved.
Not all cities have been transparent about the sharing of citizens' addresses with parties and the amounts received. The cities that have shared data and the amounts received are not publicly disclosed in comprehensive detail as of now.
It's worth noting that citizens can object to the passing on of their addresses in various cities. In Dortmund, citizens can do so via a specific form, in Hamburg via a certain link, in Munich via another link, in Neumarkt/Oberpfalz a certain way, in Berlin it's more complicated with specific procedures, and in Leipzig via another link.
Some local media outlets have picked up on this topic, including Radio Hochstift in the regions of Paderborn and Höxter, where data sets were reportedly given away for free in some cases.
Other cities, like Gelsenkirchen, have also been involved in this practice. They provided an information on citizens' data to the SPD, generating 2,000 euros for the city treasury.
In Bottrop, the SPD was provided with data sets in the years 2024 and 2025, generating fees estimated to be several hundred euros. However, Hamburg has yet to respond to questions regarding the release of data for a fee.
The practice of selling access to voter data for election campaigns has sparked debate among citizens and data protection advocates. As more cities disclose their practices, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds in the future.
Read also:
- Lu Shiow-yen's Challenging Position as Chair of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Under Scrutiny in Donovan's Analysis
- Voters in Germany are urging Friedrich Merz to apply pressure on Israel
- Enemy Forces Have Taken Ukrainian Prisoner
- BJP Persuaded Delhi Voters That Supporting AAP Was Pointless, According to Pavan K. Varma
