Germany Begins Twitter Fine Process for Complaints of Illegal Content

Illustration of Twitter's problems in Germany. (photo: Doc. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Germany's federal justice office has started proceedings to fine Twitter, which accuses the social media company of addressing user complaints regarding "illegal" content, it said in a statement on Tuesday, April 4.

Several incidents of content published on Twitter were reported to the office, "which was deemed illegal by the authorities and despite user complaints, were not removed or blocked by the provider within the legally stipulated period," the statement said.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on the report.

German authorities did not specify which examples of illegal content they referred to or the size of the fines that might be awarded. Authorities stated that Twitter had been given an opportunity to respond to the allegations before deciding whether to refer the matter to the district court in Bonn.

Twitter has been in the spotlight of Berlin especially since its acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk. Last December, a senior German official requested that the company be placed under the direct supervision of the European Commission.

The German public has filed several lawsuits against Twitter over issues such as illegal content and violations of user privacy. Some of the lawsuits filed include:

1. In 2020, a German human rights group filed a lawsuit against Twitter alleging violations of users' privacy rights.
2. In 2018, a lawyer in Germany filed a lawsuit against Twitter alleging that the company failed to remove content that was offensive to its clients within a reasonable time.
3. In 2017, German human rights groups filed a lawsuit against Twitter and other social media platforms alleging that they failed to remove offensive and racist content.

However, it should be noted that not all lawsuits against Twitter in Germany have sound legal grounds and some of them have been dismissed by courts.