According to the law, social media platforms must respond to complaints within a specified time period. The Federal Office of Justice is of the opinion that Twitter has violated these regulations and is now facing consequences .
The Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) has initiated fine proceedings against the Twitter International Unlimited Company under the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG). From the BfJ's point of view, there is sufficient evidence of failures in the complaint management of the Twitter provider in Germany.
The Internet is not a legal vacuum. Platforms cannot simply accept when their services are misused to spread criminal content.
Marco Buschmann | Federal Minister of Justice.
The provider of Twitter is subject to the regulations of the NetzDG. The BfJ has sufficient evidence that it has violated the legal obligation to deal with complaints about illegal content and that this is a systemic failure in the provider's complaint management that is subject to a fine.
Incorrect handling of user complaints
According to the NetzDG, the provider of Twitter is obliged to have an effective and transparent procedure for dealing with complaints from users about illegal content. Among other things, it must immediately take note of reported content, check whether it is illegal within the meaning of the NetzDG, and delete or block access to illegal content, observing the statutory period of seven days or 24 hours in the case of obvious illegality lock to him. According to the NetzDG, content is considered unlawful if it fulfills one of the criminal code offenses listed in Section 1 Paragraph 3 NetzDG, such as incitement to hatred, insults or threats.
Numerous contents were reported to the Federal Office of Justice
Numerous content was reported to the BfJ that was published on Twitter, which the authority believes is illegal and which, despite user complaints, was not deleted or blocked by the provider within the legally stipulated deadlines. The fine proceedings initiated are based on this.
Systemic failure of complaint management
In the case of isolated violations by social network providers of the NetzDG's inspection and deletion obligations, it cannot generally be assumed that there is no effective procedure in place for dealing with complaints about illegal content. However, a systemic failure of complaint management is punishable by a fine if breaches of the relevant requirements of the NetzDG occur repeatedly in a timely and factual manner.
The content underlying the fine proceedings against the provider of Twitter has a close temporal and factual connection and is therefore likely to justify a systemic failure in the provider's complaint management. They were published on Twitter over a period of around four months and users reported them to the Twitter provider as being illegal. All content contains similar, unjustified, defamatory statements of opinion, all of which are directed against the same person. According to the BfJ's assessment, they constitute an offense of insult.
Hearing of the provider and preliminary decision procedure before the Bonn District Court
The BfJ has now given the Twitter provider the opportunity to comment on the accusation of a systemic failure of complaint management.
In the further proceedings, the BfJ will examine the arguments put forward in the statement. If the BfJ comes to the conclusion that the accusation of unlawful behavior is still justified, the BfJ will apply to the Bonn District Court to initiate preliminary ruling proceedings and at the same time submit the provider's statement.
Before a fine is issued against social network providers for incorrectly not deleting or blocking illegal content, a judicial determination of the illegality of the content should be made in accordance with Section 4 Paragraph 5 NetzDG. The Bonn District Court is responsible for this so-called preliminary ruling procedure.
If the Bonn District Court determines that the content is illegal, the BfJ can impose a fine on the Twitter provider.
Source: Federal Office of Justice / Germany
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