German Leader’s ‘Neuland’ Internet Remarks Prompt Humiliating Memes From Social Media

During a public meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Berlin, Germany, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about how governments deal with internet security in light of the NSA wiretaps in the United States.

She told the audience: “The internet is new territory, uncharted territory to all of us. And it also enables our enemies. It enables enemies of a free, liberal order, to use it, to abuse it, to bring a threat to all of us, to threaten our way of life. And this is why we value cooperation with the United States on questions of security.”

For most of us who believe that the internet is an essential way of life, the internet is anything but “new territory.” Her “neuland” (German for “new territory”) statement prompted German social media users to make fun of the Chancellor for being technologically backward. Within minutes of her Berlin speech, people on Twitter started posting a slew of hilarious memes and tweets about a new imaginary land called Neuland where “little” Angela Merkel is now the chancellor. Here are a some of the funniest tweets and memes from the “new territory” of Neuland below.