Shit­s­torm on social media

The Inter­net is not a legal vacu­um — how to obtain infor­ma­ti­on and defend yours­elf in the event of a social media shit­s­torm.

It had been known for some time: lou­sy shit­s­torms as well as right-wing extre­mist pos­tings or ent­ries that vio­la­te the terms of use of social media such as Face­book, Twit­ter and Co. can be repor­ted. The­se are then dele­ted in the best case.

• 

But what if you want to take direct legal action against a per­son?

The Ber­lin Regio­nal Court now goes one step fur­ther and rejects free­dom of expres­si­on in social media when cri­mi­nal offen­ses such as insult or defa­ma­ti­on are com­mit­ted. Anyo­ne who has ever been the vic­tim of a shit­s­torm and hate posts with offen­si­ve con­tent can now hope that the respec­ti­ve ser­vice pro­vi­der will help. It is about giving out sen­si­ti­ve data such as name the name of the user, email address and IP address. With this infor­ma­ti­on, the user can then be dis­play­ed and fur­ther­mo­re sued for dama­ges.

This is made pos­si­ble by the Net­work Enforce­ment Act (NetzDG), which came into force on Janu­ary 01, 2018. This impo­ses cer­tain obli­ga­ti­ons on net­works with a dome­stic user base of two mil­li­on or more. In this con­text, the basis of entit­le­ment to infor­ma­ti­on in § 14 para. 3 to par. 5 Tele­me­dia Act (TMG) inser­ted.

Anyo­ne who has alre­a­dy expe­ri­en­ced being insul­ted should not remain inac­ti­ve. Cont­act us. We stand by you and assert future claims against Face­book, Insta­gram & Co for you. You can reach us by e‑mail at info@rehkatsch.de. Or call us at +49–221-4201074.