crime
Misogyny on the Internet – searches in eleven countries
The project “Combating Misogyny on the Internet” has been running since 2022. photo
© Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa
Sexual slander or advocacy of rape – such misogynistic posts are often found on the Internet. Investigators have now moved in on the suspected authors.
In addition, measures were taken for 37 defendants for whom cases had already been processed in advance. The Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) of the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and other federal law enforcement authorities are involved.
According to the BKA, those affected by the measures are Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hesse, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein.
Project since 2022
The day of action is part of the “Combating Misogyny on the Internet” project, which has been running since 2022. This would determine the scope, criminal liability and relevance for state protection of such postings and also examine potential connections to political extremism. On this basis, investigations into digital hate crimes to the detriment of women would also be initiated, it said.
The BKA specifically searched for such posts with criminal relevance on online platforms, followed by a preliminary criminal law assessment by the ZIT. After the alleged authors had been identified, they were forwarded to the respective public prosecutor’s offices in the federal states in order to decide on possible investigations.
The basis for the initiative is a ruling by the Cologne Higher Regional Court, in which it was confirmed that general denigration of women can be punishable as incitement to hatred (ref. 1 RVs 77/20). The various manifestations of misogyny on the Internet that ZIT and BKA identified included postings in which women were sexually slandered and insulted or publicly asked to send nude photos. The authorities also discovered posts advocating rape or sexual assault or even videos of torture and killings being publicly distributed.