In June 2017, Karliczek voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage. In 2018, she faced criticism after she questioned Germany's decision to recognize marriage equality in a television interview. In November 2018, Karliczek successfully suggested to ease the terms of the 5G build-out plan for network providers, declaring "we don't need 5G internet next to every milk churn". This was supposed to allow a slower proliferation of fast mobile internet in large parts of Germany in exchange for a larger amount to be gained by the federal government from the auction of frequency bands to operators. She married Eurowings pilot Lothar Karliczek in 1995; they have three children.