Germany Plans to Extend Digital Violence Legislation to Closed Messenger Groups

The German Federal Ministry of Justice has prepared a draft bill against digital violence that extends legal regulations to closed messenger groups. Under the proposal drafted under Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Threema, iMessage, and Meta messengers could be subject to judicial oversight if group sizes permit the uncontrolled distribution of content.

According to the draft, digital violence increasingly takes place within closed chat groups on messaging services. The bill does not specify a concrete numerical threshold for group membership, establishing instead that regulations apply when a group's size and composition prevent individual users from controlling the further spread of published messages.

Under the proposed legislation, victims of unlawful statements in qualifying groups can seek civil court orders obliging service providers to surrender user information, including names, physical addresses, telephone numbers, and IP addresses. Courts would also be empowered to order the temporary preservation of data and content copies to secure evidence during proceedings. Applicable offenses under the draft include insult, slander, defamation, incitement to hatred, and threats.

The inclusion of messaging platforms marks a change from an earlier draft published by the Ministry of Justice in April, which had explicitly excluded pure messaging and email services from its scope. The revised draft, first reported by Apollo News, brings larger private chat groups under civil court procedures alongside standard social networks.

Beyond messenger services, the bill introduces measures allowing civil courts to order temporary account suspensions on social media networks in cases of severe violations of personal rights. Such court orders would not require a prior criminal conviction, with civil judges determining whether the legal conditions are met. Affected individuals would retain the ability to read posts and send private direct messages, but would be restricted from publishing, commenting, or sharing content. Courts could also mandate the deletion of illegal content independently of account blocks.

The draft bill additionally creates a new provision in the German Criminal Code, designated as Section 201c. This paragraph would make it a criminal offense to distribute reputation-damaging content under a fake identity impersonating an actual existing person.

Written by Martina Kirchner martina.kirchner@alpineweekly.com