In the long fight against savage abuses on Facebook, Green policy Renate Künast has achieved decisive success. The social network must provide the policy with the data of ten other users who have massively insulted it online.
This was decided by the Berlin Court of Appeal, as stated by a spokesman for the court upon request. Künast was right on all counts. The Bundestag member had been arguing for about three years that Facebook would provide her with the data of several users so that she could take action against them.
Künast said he was relieved: “It took a long time, especially considering the pace of the digital world, but now the hard-fought decision of the Court of Appeal has won.” Künast had been supported by the non-profit organization HateAid. “I have to take a deep breath now to be happy after the long fight,” she said. The process was also emotionally difficult.
Drastic and sexist choice of words in posts
Unknowns had described Künast as a “piece of shit” and an “old green bastard” and had written even more drastic and sexist posts. The case caused a stir because the Berlin district court had initially decided that Künast, as a politician, had to accept all 22 insults: it had provoked resistance. The court then corrected itself.
However, Künast did not initially receive data from all users. After the Berlin Court of Appeal classified only 12 of the 22 comments as criminal insults and denied the right to information in the other cases, she went to Karlsruhe before the Federal Constitutional Court – successfully.
Last February the Supreme Court overturned the decisions of the civil courts in Berlin. These violated the personal rights of the actor. The ten claims should be checked again in Berlin, taking into account the Karlsruhe specifications. In the meantime it has happened – and now Künast has achieved success in all points.
