The Justice Department has unveiled plans for people who spread hate to temporarily lose access to their accounts. Victims of hate postings should also be able to find out more easily who is behind the crimes.

Temporary account bans planned for hate posters

The Federal Ministry of Justice has presented key points for a new “law against digital violence”. According to the plans, user accounts should be closed for repeated hate postings on social media be temporarily blocked under certain conditions can, if it is about serious violations of personality. However, the temporary ban should only be used as a last resort if simply deleting hate postings is not enough and there is a risk of repetition.

The account blocks should take effect in particular if the actual owner of the account is not known. When it comes to the duration of the blockage, the key issues paper speaks of a “reasonable period of time”. In any case, those affected should be given an opportunity to comment if they want to explain their point of view. In addition, the plans provide for legal hurdles to be added to the identification of hate posters (source: daily News).

The declared goal is against “notorious infringers” in the digital space to proceed. A corresponding procedure has already been laid down in the coalition agreement of the traffic light parties. It states that temporary account suspensions can be ordered by a judge in certain cases.

Mental health problems can be addressed by:

Young people in particular are affected by hate speech

According to research, younger people in particular are the victims of hate postings on social media. For 14 to 27 year olds more than every third have already been subjected to personal hate speech. Around a quarter of all Internet users in Germany are assumed to have this.