'Nazi Shazam': German authorities plan to use app to identify banned neo-Nazi music at rallies
The app, which has been dubbed a 'Nazi Shazam', allows German authorities to recognise neo-Nazi music in just seconds
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Cracking down on far-right groups in your country? There's an app for that.
Police in Germany have developed a smartphone app that helps them to identify right-wing extremist music from just a short clip.
The app, which has been dubbed a 'Nazi Shazam', in reference to the popular music-identification app, allows German authorities to recognise neo-Nazi music at far-right rallies in just seconds through its "audio fingerprints".
According to Der Spiegel ministers are set to meet this week to discuss implementation of the new piece of software.
Seventy-nine songs were banned in Germany last year because of their association with neo-Nazi views and there are over a thousand on the banned index in total.
Ministers in the country have argued that far-right music is helping to recruit young people into extremist groups. The glorification of Nazism is banned in Germany.
Police might be able to use the music to recognise offending songs at rallies or on internet radio stations.
According to Der Spiegel the 'Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors' has collated a list of 79 pieces of music it considers to have racist lyrics or that promotes neo-Nazi ideology.