The statement that someone third sent hate messages via your own Facebook account and you don't know who it was is no longer considered exoneration in court.
At least that is what the Higher Regional Court in Vienna decided yesterday in the Sigi Maurer case. A quick reminder: Sigi Maurer, former Green Party member of the Austrian National Council, received an extremely offensive and sexist private message in spring 2018, which she published on Facebook in response. This publication contained the name of the sender, an innkeeper from Vienna, who in turn sued Maurer.
Even though the procedure turned out to be quite complicated, the court decided in the first instance in autumn 2018 that this type of publication with names was not permitted and Maurer was found guilty of libel ( compare ).
However, this judgment has now been overturned by the Higher Regional Court on the grounds that the first court had set the bar for proving the truth unattainably high. The first instance procedure must now be repeated.
What that means
The plaintiff innkeeper has always claimed that he never wrote or sent the offensive and sexist message to Maurer. Someone third would have used their computer in the restaurant unnoticed. He initially got away with his statement; the court was initially of the opinion that Maurer should have checked whether the innkeeper had actually written and sent the text.
Of course, that is exactly a fatal and unrealistic verdict, because it would mean a general acquittal for any kind of hate speech or criminal act on the Internet. You simply say that someone else did it and you don't even know who it was.
That's probably how the higher regional court saw it:
“The assessment of the evidence did not produce a coherent picture because the private prosecutor did not conclusively show that another person actually wrote and sent the messages. The theoretical possibility alone is not enough.”
Now the trial begins again, but under a different judge.
What can result from this...
In the end, this may not only be about Sigi Maurer, but also about many more. Maybe it's another tangible step that shows how you can take action against hate messages or hate comments outside of social media. Hasnain Kazim, the correspondent for SPIEGEL ONLINE and DER SPIEGEL in Vienna, recently published on his Facebook account that he is now using the annulment of the verdict and the corresponding justification as an opportunity to legally defend himself against hate messages after arguments, persuasion, and exchange of ideas , discussion and debate alone are of no use:
In my professional life, I have only filed criminal charges against hate letter writers six times. Now that the Vienna Higher Regional Court has decided in the Sigi Maurer case, no one whose Facebook account or email address sends hate messages, threats or insults can no longer excuse themselves by saying that they did not write the message and do not know it not who was at his computer, I hope that this view will also prevail in Germany. To advance this, I have today initiated legal action against ten people. I want these people to not only pay a fine, but also a lot of compensation. I don't know yet how much and to which organization I will donate some of it if I receive something. In any case, I would like it to be really expensive. I have long since come to the realization that arguments, persuasion, exchange of ideas, discussion and debate alone are of no use. It must hurt. If in the end they just stay silent out of fear of punishment - so be it. I encourage all journalists, politicians, in fact everyone who is in the public eye and is the target of hate messages, to defend themselves - with words, lawsuits, criminal charges. Let's get ready to rumble.
https://www.facebook.com/hasnain.kazim/posts/10156460817343264
The approach is very understandable, because it is actually difficult to avert insults by persuading (although Kazim in particular has tried this again and again in the past, see here ). If courts decide in a truly practical and realistic way that an account holder is also a sender and should generally also know whether, when and who is still using their own account, it should actually be interesting to see to what extent this ends up being the case a reduction in hate messages on social media is achieved.
Article image by Mitrofanov Alexander / Shutterstock.com
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 )