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On 7 February 2024, the Verwaltungsgericht Hannover (Hanover Administrative Court – VG Hannover) rejected an appeal by the television broadcaster RTL against a complaint lodged by the Niedersächsische Landesmedienanstalt (Lower Saxony state media authority – NLM). The complaint concerned an alleged breach of the requirement for clear visual separation of advertising and programme content during "split-screen" advertising broadcast during an RTL television programme. "Split-screen" advertising for a smartphone, in which editorial content and advertising were...

On 18 January 2024, the Bundestag (German federal parliament) debated the so-called Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (Digital Services Law), which was tabled by the federal government to implement the Digital Services Act (DSA) at national level, for the first time. While the DSA, which will apply across the EU from 17 February 2024, regulates matters including due diligence obligations for online services in the battle against disinformation and hate speech on the Internet and their enforcement at EU level, the government bill, known as the DDG-E, lays down the relevant responsibilities in Germany. The...

On 14 December 2023, the state parliaments of Berlin and Brandenburg adopted the Staatsvertrag über den Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (state treaty on the Berlin-Brandenburg state broadcasting authority – rbb-Staatsvertrag), which had been signed by Brandenburg on 3 November 2023 and by Berlin on 17 November 2023. Following the exchange of ratification documents, the treaty entered into force on 1 January 2024. The new legal framework for Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg state broadcasting authority – rbb) replaces the Staatsvertrag über die Errichtung einer...

On 1 January 2024, the amendments to the Medienstaatsvertrag (state media treaty – MStV) that were brought in under the Vierte Medienänderungsstaatsvertrag (fourth state treaty amending the state media treaty – 4. MÄStV) entered into force after being ratified by the parliaments of the 16 German Länder (federal states). Among other things, the MStV sets out the legal framework for public service broadcasting in Germany. The latest amendments are designed to strengthen the compliance, transparency and monitoring of public service broadcasters. In order to promote good...

A judgment of 31 October 2023 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) at the request of Bild GmbH & Co. KG (Bild), the owner and operator of a news website (bild.de) in Germany. The case concerns a court ruling ordering Bild to cease publication of the CCTV footage of a police arrest without the face of one of the police officers involved being blurred. The ECtHR was opposed in particular to the general reasoning in the court order that any unpixelated coverage of the police action would be unlawful....