Anyone who positions themselves publicly on the Internet – be it for democracy and equality, against racism and homophobia – must expect hate comments even in the supposedly enlightened year 2022. In order to support those affected in Bavaria in dealing with and against hate postings in the future, the Ministry of Justice presented a new reporting office this Monday. The place named “Respect!” is already being used in Baden-Württemberg, among other places. “Hate and agitation have reached an alarming level,” said Bavaria’s Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich (CSU). “A real threat to democracy has developed.”
In fact, the number of reported incidents in Bavaria has recently increased significantly. Last year, the 22 hate speech special departments across the country – based at the local public prosecutor’s offices – conducted 2,317 cases. This corresponds to an increase of 41 percent compared to 2020. The number of unreported cases, however, is likely to be significantly higher. A number of cases are never reported, also because those affected feel powerless in the face of the flood of messages from often anonymous senders. “Hate speech online is not a trivial offense, but digital violence,” said Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf (CSU): It hurts those affected and pollutes the social climate. The Ministry of Social Affairs supports “REspect!” financially. The registration office has existed since 2017 and is operated by the Democracy Center Baden-Württemberg.
Under https://meldestelle-respect.de messages can be uploaded with URL, screenshot and description. The reporting office then checks the content for its criminal relevance, because “not all comments that are unfriendly or tasteless and hurt people cross the line of criminal liability,” said Eisenreich. If they do, the reports are forwarded via the Federal Criminal Police Office to the State Criminal Police Office, which then calls in the local police for further investigations. In addition, the reporting office wants to advise on how to deal with hate speech. According to their own statements, about 95 percent of the people who work at “REspect!” investigation reports forwarded to law enforcement authorities.
For years, the Free State has been trying to combat hatred and hate speech online – with mixed success given the extent of the problem. Since 2020, municipal elected representatives and members of parliament have been able to submit complaints to the Munich public prosecutor’s office in an online reporting process. A joint online reporting procedure for victims of anti-Jewish crimes exists with the Research and Information Center for Antisemitism (RIAS) in Bavaria.
In contrast, the cooperation with “REspect” is open to everyone. Cooperation with the registration office is important and “long overdue,” said Katharina Schulze, leader of the Greens in the state parliament. “Now further steps must be taken quickly to comprehensively strengthen those affected.” The Greens demand a central reporting point for criminally relevant matters; a “virtual police station that you can contact at any time from your sofa, even if a threat of rape or death flutters into your mailbox in the middle of the night,” said Schulze. Prosecuting a criminal offense should be just as easy “as it is easy for the perpetrators to type hate and hate speech into the computer”.