Three years ago, Facebook deleted two posts that were derogatory about migrants and blocked both accounts. In the last instance, the Federal Court of Justice decided that the tech group must inform and listen to its users before being blocked.
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) made a momentous decision on Thursday. According to the ruling by the judges in Karlsruhe, Facebook is obliged to inform users if they are about to be blocked and state the reason for this. Those concerned must also have the opportunity to comment in advance, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe decided on Thursday. If Facebook deletes individual posts, the social network must at least give notice afterwards. (Ref. III ZR 179/20 and III ZR 192/20)
Facebook deleted xenophobic posts for hate speech
Basically, however, Facebook users are allowed to specify “certain communication standards” – even if these go beyond the criminal law requirements, the BGH decided. Specifically, there were two cases in which a woman and a man had made contemptuous, but not criminally relevant, statements about migrants in the social network.
Facebook had removed the posts as hate speech for violating its standards and temporarily blocked the accounts. The two then went to court. Since they were unsuccessful in their appeal to the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court, they appealed to the BGH.
This now overturned the judgments of the OLG and changed them: Facebook must reactivate both posts. The plaintiff is not allowed to block it again because of this. The presiding judge Ulrich Herrmann declared when the verdict was pronounced that the basic rights to freedom of expression and the free exercise of a profession would have to be balanced.
Users are entitled to activation
The blocking and deletion rules of April 2018 were ineffective because Facebook did not commit to informing those affected and they had no opportunity to express their views before the account was blocked, the BGH said. The regulations unreasonably disadvantaged users “contrary to the principles of good faith”. If a post has been deleted due to the ineffective terms and conditions, the user is entitled to activation.
A Facebook spokesman said on request that Facebook does not tolerate hate speech and is committed to removing illegal content. “We welcome the decision of the Federal Court of Justice, according to which we are fundamentally entitled to remove content according to our own guidelines and to block the relevant user accounts,” he continued. Facebook will carefully examine the decision “to ensure that we can continue to take effective action against hate speech in Germany.”
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