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On 20 March 2025, the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court – OLG) ruled in summary proceedings (case no. 16 U 42/24) that suspicion-based reporting is inadmissible unless the person accused of a criminal offence is given an opportunity to comment on the basis and context of the intended report. Suspicion-based reporting is a form of journalistic reporting in which a possible criminal offence is reported on and the name of the alleged offender is mentioned. Although the scope and limitations of such reporting are not clearly defined, the courts have...

At the end of March 2025, the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media – KJM) reviewed the youth protection programmes of the audiovisual streaming providers Sky Stream, WOW and O2 TV. Under the provisions of the German Jugendmedienschutzstaatsvertrag (state treaty on the protection of minors in the media – JMStV), it saw no reason to raise any serious objections and concluded that the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter (voluntary self-monitoring body for multimedia service providers – FSM) had not exceeded...

In mid-February 2025, Zweite Deutsche Fernsehen (ZDF) and the regional public broadcasters that form the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) announced that they would continue their extensive voluntary film funding programme. Together with the German Filmförderungsanstalt (Film Support Agency – FFA), which is responsible for film funding in Germany, ARD and ZDF have each signed the 15. Film/Fernsehabkommen (15th film/television agreement). According to Article 132 of the Filmförderungsgesetz (Film Support...

In a decision of 18 February 2025, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH), Germany's highest civil court, suspended proceedings concerning the liability of social networks for content that is identical or similar to content that has already been declared illegal by a court. The BGH wants to review the European Court of Justice’s decision in case C-492/23 (Russmedia Digital and Inform Media Press), which also deals with the questions referred for a preliminary ruling as to whether providers of hosting services are obliged to check the legality of content before publishing...

On 13 February 2025, the Verwaltungsgericht Potsdam (Potsdam Administrative Court) rejected an urgent appeal by the Brandenburg division of the Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany – AfD) party against an order by the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg media authority – mabb) prohibiting the unrestricted distribution and making available of one of the party’s election commercials (case no. VG 11 L 74/25). During the Brandenburg state parliament election campaign in September 2024, AfD Brandenburg, assisted by AI, had created an election...