According to a judge’s verdict, Twitter is too generous with hate and hate speech. Corresponding tweets must be deleted. The anti-Semitism commissioner of the southwest made the decision.
Frankfurt/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) – The Baden-Württemberg anti-Semitism commissioner Michael Blume has largely achieved success in the legal dispute against Twitter over the dissemination of alleged false statements. The Frankfurt Regional Court ruled on Wednesday that those affected can ask the platform to delete false or defamatory tweets about them. However, the judges went one step further: the short message service must therefore also remove statements that are essentially the same as soon as they become aware of the specific violations of personality.
“The decision shows that the Internet is not a legal vacuum,” said the presiding judge, Ina Frost. In the summary proceedings, Blume and the supporting organization HateAid accused Twitter of being jointly responsible for the spread of defamation.
Blume said in Stuttgart that his immediate hope was that all those affected would have the courage to talk about the topic. There are now tens of thousands of people who are victims of hate and hate speech on the Internet. “This is perpetual stalking that never ends.” A majority of the victims are women.
Specifically, according to Blume, the tweets claimed that he was cheating on his wife and that he was cheating on his wife with minors. According to the court, it was also rumored that he was involved in “anti-Semitic scandals” and “part of an anti-Semitic pack”.
According to the court decision, these “defamatory allegations are untrue”. The designation as an anti-Semite is initially an expression of opinion, but it is illegal in the chosen context because it does not contribute to the formation of public opinion and clearly aims to create a mood against Blume, it said.
In addition, the chamber decided that the prohibition to cease and desist applies not only if a statement is repeated verbatim, “but also if the communications contained therein are republished analogously”. However, the court also stated that Twitter was not subject to any general monitoring obligation with regard to its approximately 237 million users. There is an obligation to examine only with regard to the specifically objected violations of personal rights.
In addition, the Chamber considered the statement by a user to be permissible, according to which the Antisemitism Commissioner was included in the list of the greatest antisemites in the world published annually by the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Regardless of whether this is justified, information should be given, it said. On the other hand, Blume had to defend himself in the public opinion battle. The decision is not final.
Blume’s lawyer says he expects Twitter to appeal to the Higher Regional Court in the summary proceedings. According to the non-profit organization HateAid, it financed Blume’s lawsuit. So far, 200 people have been supported with legal costs, a spokeswoman said.
It was only in April that the member of the Bundestag Renate Künast (Greens) won a dispute with the Facebook group Meta about the deletion of defamatory false quotes before the Frankfurt Regional Court. The Greens politician had complained that a certain word-image combination – a meme – was blocked on the social network with a false quote she was given. Variants of this meme with essentially the same content were also affected by the decision.
