Viral scorn over Merkel’s ‘virgin territory’ quip

“The internet is virgin territory (Neuland) for us all,” Merkel declared on Wednesday. But if she had meant to make a meaningful comment on the borderless, Wild West nature of the internet, it was lost on German internet users – who took to Twitter to poke fun.

Within minutes of her comment, the social network was buzzing with Tweets wondering what planet the Chancellor had been living on for the last twenty years.

Then, using the hashtag #neuland, a trickle of scornful memes began appearing which soon swelled into a viral flood as word got out across the Twittersphere.

By Wednesday evening #neuland was trending in Germany higher than #obamainberlin – and the Merkel memes kept coming.

So, just in case you missed them, The Local has gathered some #neuland highlights into one place – for even non-Twitter users (and Neuland newbies) to enjoy.

Click here for our favourite #neuland memes

The Local/jlb