“If you want to protect freedom of expression and democracy, you have to consistently combat hate online.”

The chairman of the 93rd Conference of Justice Ministers and Bavarian Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich is changing the Hate Speech Commissioner of the Bavarian Justice Department. He says goodbye to senior public prosecutor Klaus Dieter Hartleb , who becomes a judge at the Munich Higher Regional Court. At the same time, he introduced public prosecutor Teresa Ott as the new hate speech officer.

Eisenreich on the previous hate speech commissioner Hartleb: “Anyone who wants to protect freedom of expression and democracy must consistently combat criminal hatred online. Bavaria's successes in the fight against hatred and agitation online are thanks to the great commitment of our investigators. Our 22 special department heads and your active actions as Germany's first hate speech officer have made a significant contribution to this. Thank you very much for everything you and your colleagues have done for the judiciary in recent years. I wish you all the best for the future.”

Teresa Ott, most recently Klaus Dieter Hartleb's representative, is introduced as the new hate speech representative. 

Eisenreich : “You have always dedicated yourself to your previous tasks with great professional competence and drive. They have accompanied the project from the beginning and have been able to gain valuable experience in the fight against hate speech over the past few years. I wish you all the best in your new tasks.”

Background : The hate speech specialists conducted a total of 3,965 cases of online hate crime in two years.

  • As of January 1, 2020, Bavaria's Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich set up Germany's first hate speech officer centrally for the Bavarian judiciary and special departments at all 22 Bavarian public prosecutor's offices to combat hate speech.
  • The hate speech specialists conducted a total of 3,965 cases of online hate crime in two years.
  • To effectively combat hate speech, the Bavarian Ministry of Justice has set up online reporting procedures for online crimes with various cooperation partners.
  • The judiciary protects journalists: “Justice and Media – Consistently Against Hate” project launched with the Bavarian State Center for New Media (BLM) The motto: “First show, then delete”. 115 media companies are currently supporting the initiative.
  • The judiciary protects local politicians as well as members of the state parliament, the Bundestag and the European Parliament : , local elected officials and members of parliament have been able to quickly and easily submit reports and requests for investigation to the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office using an online reporting process. The minister : “So far, 160 local politicians and members of parliament have used the reporting procedure.”
  • The judiciary protects Jews in Bavaria: The judiciary, together with the Bavarian Anti-Semitism Research and Information Center (RIAS Bayern), offers  an online reporting procedure for victims of anti-Semitic crimes. Minister Eisenreich : “So that anti-Semitic motives do not remain in the dark, the anti-Semitism officers of the public prosecutor’s office have developed a guide for public prosecutors . With the guide, anti-Semitic motives can be more easily deciphered (e.g. using Nazi anniversaries or codes)." The Central Anti-Semitism Commissioner of the Bavarian judiciary is responsible for proceedings of particular importance throughout Bavaria.
  • In July 2022, Bavaria launched a new cooperation model for victims of hate speech. It provides an easy way to display hate speech for all citizens. Justice Minister Eisenreich : “Together with the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior, we have established cooperation with the Baden-Württemberg registration office 'REspect!' started. We want to combat hate crime even more efficiently. All citizens have the opportunity to report hate speech online to the reporting office. They also receive advice, which is important to me personally.”

Citizens in Bavaria can access links and information on all the state government's offers on the topic of hate speech www.bayern-gegen-hass.de

How does the reporting process work?

  • Citizens can reach the “REspect!” registration office of the Baden-Württemberg Democracy Center via www.meldestelle-respect.de .
  • Incoming reports of hate messages are then checked by the reporting office for their criminal relevance and forwarded via the Federal Criminal Police Office to the responsible state criminal police office. Minister Eisenreich: “Not all comments that are unfriendly or tasteless and hurt people cross the line into criminal liability. The criminally relevant messages are presented to the public prosecutor’s offices by the police authorities.”
  • In addition to recording advertisements, advice also plays an important role. How do I deal with hate speech? How can I view them? How do I achieve deletion?
  • “REspect!” has been working very successfully in Baden-Württemberg so far. According to “REspect!”, around 95 percent of the reports checked there and forwarded to the law enforcement authorities lead to investigations.

source

Bavarian State Ministry of Justice

Also read: Hate messages on social media: What can I do?
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )