Hamburg Regional Court Rejects Blogger’s Injunction Against Monika Gruber – Legal Victory for Satire

23.02.2024 – 13:05

Irle Moser lawyers

Berlin (ots)

By order of February 23, 2024, the Hamburg Regional Court rejected an application for an interim injunction against Monika Gruber and Piper Verlag as unfounded and imposed the costs of the proceedings entirely on the applicant. This is the blogger Roma Maria Mukherjee, who runs several public accounts on social networks that are not protected by access barriers and regularly and comprehensively takes a public position on political and social issues.

On March 18, 2023, Roma Maria Mukherjee posted the following tweet on her publicly accessible X-profile:

“Right-wing extremist women are currently actively infiltrating the textile hobby scene (e.g. on the subject of knitting). Please actively engage with who offers what and who offers offers. #PleaseRetweet #FollowerPower”

Monika Gruber made this tweet in a book chapter of her book “Welcome to the False Film”, written together with Andreas Hock and published by Piper Verlag, mentioning the blogger’s name, and making it the subject of a satirical discussion of what she sees as the increasing hysteria in social networks Debate culture.

Legally permissible throughout, as the Civil Chamber 24 (Press Chamber) of the Hamburg Regional Court decided in a comprehensively reasoned decision delivered on February 23, 2024:

The court found that the blogger Roma Maria Mukherjee’s general personal rights were not violated and could be described as a “self-proclaimed influencer” because this statement constituted a permissible expression of opinion, which Roma Maria Mukherjee expressed based on her posts and her efforts to achieve both content Influencing the behavior of their followers as well as having the highest possible reach.

There is also no objection to mentioning the blogger by name. Because Roma Maria Mukherjee registered on the social network platforms Instagram and and finally made it clear by asking for retweets that she wanted the widest possible reach of her warning assigned by name. In the court’s opinion, it appears contradictory to enter the public debate in this way first by naming one’s name in order to then demand protection of anonymity in a subsequent dispute with regard to one’s self-expressed position.

The court also considered the author Monika Gruber’s other statements, all of which were characterized by the stylistic device of satire, to be admissible: For the legal assessment, it depends on whether it is clear to the reader that the statements to be assessed are those for the alienation or exaggerations typical of satire. From the reader’s perspective, it is obvious that the statements were not serious exaggerations. The actual content of the message that is expressed using the stylistic device of satirical exaggeration consists in Monika Gruber’s criticism of an exaggerated alarmism towards right-wing tendencies, as, in the author’s opinion, is expressed in the tweet by Roma Maria Mukherjee. This criticism is permissible as an expression of opinion and in particular does not constitute insulting criticism. Even excessive criticism does not in itself make a statement insulting. On the one hand, the reader recognizes that the grotesquely exaggerated terms and considerations typical of satire are not meant seriously and, on the other hand, the attacked statements are in connection with a dispute on the matter. In the court’s opinion, a disparagement of the Roma Maria Mukherjee was not the focus of the objectionable statements.

Monika Gruber on the court decision: “After weeks of a completely surreal shitstorm against our book and the art form of satire, I am not only happy, but above all enormously relieved that, despite all the madness of our time, the constitutional state does not seem to have lost its compass yet .”

The decision is not yet final and the applicant Roma Maria Mukherjee has the right to appeal against it immediately. This must be submitted to the Hamburg Regional Court within an emergency period of two weeks from delivery of the decision.

Press contact:

IRLE MOSER Lawyers PartG
Dr. Ben M. Irle LL.M.
Unter den Linden 32-34
10117 Berlin
[email protected]
+49-(0)30-21021960

Original content by: Irle Moser Rechtsanwälte, transmitted by news aktuell

2024-02-23 12:53:44
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