netzbegrünung

netzbegrünung (full name: netzbegrünung – Verein für grüne Netzkultur e.V.) is a German net-politics association dedicated to promoting a sustainable and democratic digital culture, and it is closely associated with the party Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. It emerged in 2006 from a group of people in the orbit of the Green party, making it one of the early net-politics movements in the party-adjacent space, and it was formally entered into the German association register in 2014. The organisation describes itself as a digital political association. Unlike pure think tanks such as D64 or cnetz, netzbegrünung continues to work close to the technical foundations: its members develop software themselves or test available open-source software for organisations that value sustainability. The association states its goals as supporting initiatives and associations in shaping their internet communication, conveying knowledge about digital communication technologies, and researching new ways of using these technologies to foster participation in democratic statehood. It also actively engages in net politics by developing political positions and sparking debates aimed at more participation and an ecologically just digital society, and it comments on political developments. Operationally, netzbegrünung runs a portfolio of public and internal services. Its best-known public offering is the Mastodon instance gruene.social, which it has operated since mid-2019. Other public services include Green Spider (a homepage analysis tool), a Discourse discussion forum, Jitsi-based and BigBlueButton video conferencing, PeerTube video hosting, Pixelfed image sharing, ForgeJo code hosting, a QR code generator, IT security training, and documentation for the services of netzbegrünung and the Grünes Netz. Internally it operates a Matrix/Synapse server with Element, a wiki, Nextcloud storage, and Keycloak account management for members. The association also publishes a Fachdienst (specialist service) with in-depth articles and presents related topics at conferences such as re:publica. The association counts over 550 members from Germany and Austria. It was instrumental in maintaining and expanding the digital infrastructure of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, before that operational work was spun out in 2020 into an IT cooperative. In September 2019 the IT cooperative verdigado eG was founded out of netzbegrünung; the majority of its cooperative shares belong to the federal association and all state associations of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen as well as to netzbegrünung. For the 2025 federal election campaign, verdigado published the party's app under the Apache-2.0 licence. netzbegrünung has also gained public attention for security research. In May and June 2024, together with journalist Eva Wolfangel, it uncovered several vulnerabilities in the on-premise and cloud versions of Cisco's Webex video conferencing service through which metadata leaked. Among the affected European authorities verified by netzbegrünung was the government of the Netherlands, prompting State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen to launch an investigation. In Germany the vulnerability was verified at numerous ministries and agencies, and the Bundeswehr took its self-operated Webex solution offline. The consequences culminated in the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) having to clarify that it had never recommended Webex, although several ministries had previously referred to an alleged BSI recommendation.

netzbegrünung emerged in 2006 from a merger of people from the environment of the party Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, making it one of the early net-politics movements in the party-adjacent space. The association was officially entered into the German association register in 2014. Initially, netzbegrünung operated various tools for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and was significantly involved during the COVID-19 pandemic in maintaining and expanding the party's digital infrastructure, before that operation was spun out into an IT cooperative in 2020. Since then, the association has concentrated on technical innovation as well as conveying specialist knowledge and digital-policy content. A key structural development was the spin-off of an IT service provider. In September 2019, the IT cooperative verdigado eG was founded out of netzbegrünung. The majority of the cooperative's shares belong to the federal association and all state associations of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, as well as to netzbegrünung. For the 2025 federal election campaign, verdigado published the app of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen under the Apache-2.0 licence. netzbegrünung has also become known for security research. In May and June 2024, in cooperation with journalist Eva Wolfangel, it uncovered several vulnerabilities in the on-premise and cloud versions of the video conferencing service Webex from the manufacturer Cisco. Through the vulnerabilities, metadata leaked. Among the affected European authorities verified by netzbegrünung was the government of the Netherlands. State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen subsequently initiated an investigation. In Germany, the vulnerability was verified at numerous ministries and agencies. The Bundeswehr took its self-operated Webex solution offline. The consequences culminated in the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) having to clarify that it had never recommended Webex, although several ministries had previously referred to an alleged BSI recommendation. The association counts over 550 members from Germany and Austria. It operates a Mastodon instance and a Fachdienst for publishing specialist articles; topics treated in this project are also presented to a broader audience at conferences such as re:publica. Its public services include BigBlueButton and Jitsi video conferencing, PeerTube, Discourse, Green Spider, Mastodon, Pixelfed, ForgeJo, documentation, Grünstreifen, IT security training, a QR code generator, and Grüne Signale. Internally it runs Synapse (Matrix), Element, ForgeJo, a wiki, Nextcloud, and Keycloak.

• 2025

  verdigado publishes the app of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen under the Apache-2.0 licence for the federal election campaign.

• 2024

  netzbegrünung and journalist Eva Wolfangel uncover Webex vulnerabilities affecting European authorities.

• 2020

  Operation of party tools is spun out into an IT cooperative; the association focuses on technical innovation and knowledge transfer.

• 2019

  The IT cooperative verdigado eG is founded out of netzbegrünung.

• 2019

  netzbegrünung begins operating the Mastodon server gruene.social.

• 2014

  The association is officially entered into the German association register.

• 2006

  netzbegrünung emerges from a merger of people from the environment of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.

A party-adjacent, hands-on net-politics association that combines open-source software development and operation with digital-policy analysis, distinct from pure think tanks.

• gruene.social

  Mastodon instance operated by netzbegrünung since mid-2019.

• Green Spider

  Homepage analysis tool available at green-spider.netzbegruenung.de.

• Fachdienst

  Specialist publication with in-depth explanations, background, assessments and evaluations on individual topics.

• Konferenz Netzbegrünung

  Simple video conferences with Jitsi at konferenz.netzbegruenung.de.

• Discourse Forum

  Discussion forum at discourse.netzbegruenung.de.

• BigBlueButton

  Video conferencing with whiteboard and break-out rooms.

• PeerTube

  Video hosting platform.

• Pixelfed

  Image service in the Fediverse.

• ForgeJo

  Code hosting service.

• QRCode Generator

  A small service for easily generating QR codes.

• Grüne Signale

  A digital election poster that sends green messages in a resource-saving way.

• IT-Sicherheitstraining

  Short training for members and subdivisions of the Greens.

1. 1Netzbegrünung – Verein für grüne Netzkultur e.V.netzbegruenung.de
2. 2Dienste – Netzbegrünungnetzbegruenung.de
3. 3netzbegruenung – Wikidatawikidata.org
4. 4Netzbegrünung – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org