Status: 10/17/2022 5:07 p.m
Again and again, users spread hate speech via Telegram. But the messenger service does little about it, although it is obliged to do so. Telegram now has to pay a fine of more than five million euros in Germany.
More than a year after the start of fine proceedings, the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) issued two fines totaling more than five million euros against the Telegram messenger service.
As the Bonn-based authority announced, it is punishing violations of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) in 2020 and 2021.
Telegram can appeal
Specifically, the Federal Office accuses Telegram of not providing any of the reporting channels for criminally relevant content prescribed by law. It also complains that the company has not named an authorized recipient in Germany so that German courts and authorities can deliver documents with legally binding effect to the providers in Germany.
The Federal Office imposed a fine of 4.25 million euros for the lack of reporting channels. Telegram should pay 875,000 euros for not naming an authorized recipient. Telegram can appeal against the decisions.
Obligations for Social Media Providers
The NetzDG regulates the handling of user complaints about hate crime and other criminal content on the internet. On the one hand, the law prescribes setting up a complaints management system that users can use to report illegal content. In addition, the NetzDG obliges operators to appoint an authorized recipient and authorized recipient.
Telegram is said to have missed all of this. The messenger service has been the focus of the German authorities since summer 2021 at the latest. He attracted attention several times for spreading right-wing extremist propaganda and conspiracy theories in connection with the corona pandemic.
The Federal Office stated that since April 2021 there have been several attempts to deliver hearing letters to Telegram’s headquarters in Dubai. Despite support from the responsible authorities in the United Arab Emirates, this did not succeed.
Bushman: “Laws apply to everyone”
In March 2022, the office therefore made the public delivery of both hearing letters in the Federal Gazette. Following this publication, a German law firm contacted the Federal Office on behalf of Telegram and commented on the hearing letters. The statement could not have invalidated the allegations, the BfJ explained. Therefore, both fines were issued and Telegram was delivered on October 10, 2022.
“Our laws apply to everyone,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. He was “glad that our consistent commitment has brought us one step further.” Messenger services could not “evade the legal requirements by trying to be unavailable”.