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According to a press release published on 29 July 2021 by the Medienanstalt Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein (Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein media authority – MA HSH), one of Germany’s 14 media regulators, the TikTok social media platform recently deleted 91 profiles and 169 videos containing either Nazi references or scenes of violence that could be harmful to minors after receiving a notification from the MA HSH. The TikTok platform is a video portal that enables users to upload music videos or short video clips. It also includes social networking features and is operated by the Chinese...

In a decision published on 20 July 2021, the First Senate of the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court – BVerfG) decided that, by failing to approve the Erster Medienänderungsstaatsvertrag (first amended state media treaty), the Land of Saxony-Anhalt had violated the freedom of broadcasting enjoyed by public broadcasters under Article 5(1)(2) of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law – GG). The provisions of Article 1 of the first amended state treaty – including the plan to increase the public broadcasting fee by EUR 0.86 from EUR 17.50 to EUR 18.36 proposed by the...

On 15 June 2021, the Landesmedienanstalten (state media authorities) ruled on the first six cases linked to possible discrimination against journalistic and editorial providers by media intermediary Google on the basis of the Medienstaatsvertrag (state media treaty – MStV), which came into force on 7 November 2020. Since the treaty came into force, media intermediaries have been subject to German media regulation aimed at protecting diversity of opinion. Search engines, which are a type of media intermediary, aggregate and select third-party editorial content and present it in the form...

In rulings of 29 July 2021 (III ZR 179/20 and III ZR 192/20), the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH) decided that Facebook’s terms of business, governing the deletion of users’ posts and the blocking of accounts when its internal standards had been breached, were ineffective. This was especially the case if Facebook did not agree to inform users about the removal of their posts, at least in retrospect, and about the intention to block their accounts in advance, indicate the reason for doing so, and grant them the opportunity to respond and request a new decision....

In two recent decisions, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court – BVerwG), Germany’s highest ordinary administrative court, ordered the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Agency – BND) to show greater transparency towards journalists. Under these decisions, the BND is required to disclose to journalists the identity of parties, involved in court proceedings, who had fought against the disclosure of press contacts in a separate court procedure, and that of media representatives invited to hold ‘informal briefings’ with the BND. These information...