“Systemic failure” on Twitter: the judiciary initiates fine proceedings

After the takeover by Elon Musk, the roller coaster ride continues on Twitter. Now the Federal Office of Justice is also getting involved – with a fine procedure. The reason: violations of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG).

The fact that Twitter has recently lost a bit of control over what feels like pretty much everything should not have escaped the notice of users. The social network also changed course when it came to press inquiries after being taken over by Elon Musk.

Because since mid-March, the group has automatically responded to press inquiries with a turd emoji. CEO Musk had personally announced this in a tweet.

press@twitter.com now auto responds with 💩

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023

But the Federal Office of Justice has now also become aware that the social network is going haywire. That’s why the office now has a Fine proceedings initiated against the social network. The subject is non-compliance with the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG).

What is behind the procedure?

The Federal Office of Justice accuses the operators of the platform in Germany of “failures in complaint management”. The platform violates the Network Enforcement Act.

This prescribes a certain time window for social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Co. to process reported content. The platforms must therefore delete criminal offenses within 24 hours of receiving the complaint.

It doesn’t seem to work that well on Twitter. Because, as the Federal Justice Office writes, the social network “violated the legal obligation to deal with complaints about illegal content”. There is sufficient evidence for this.

The Federal Office of Justice has initiated fine proceedings against Twitter. The BfJ has sufficient evidence that Twitter has violated the legal obligation to deal with complaints about illegal content.

— Marco Buschmann (@MarcoBuschmann) April 4, 2023

Is Twitter failing when it comes to complaints management?

The proceedings of the Federal Office of Justice will show whether the platform really violates the provisions of the NetzDG. With a tweet, however, the platform was apparently very fast.

This is the announcement of the procedure by Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann. He then received a complaint directly and shared it with the comment “Nice try”.

Nice try 😉 pic.twitter.com/SF60NSZtgp

— Marco Buschmann (@MarcoBuschmann) April 4, 2023

But according to the BfJ, this does not always work so immediately. According to the Office, there is “a lot of content” that is illegal but was not deleted within the specified period.

The Federal Justice Office therefore sees a “systemic failure in complaint management” on the platform. There is “no effective procedure for dealing with complaints about illegal content”.

If the network only violated the guidelines in individual cases, the BfJ could not intervene with a fine. However, the violations occurred over a period of four months. The content would also have “a close temporal and factual connection”.

Therefore, the Federal Office of Justice assumes a systemic failure, for which a fine procedure is justified.

What’s next for Twitter?

First of all, the group now has time to comment on the allegation by the Federal Office of Justice. If the BfJ is still convinced of its allegations after this statement, it can apply to the Bonn district court to initiate preliminary ruling proceedings.

In this procedure, the illegality of the content not deleted on the platform would then be checked. If this is the case, the BfJ can impose a fine.

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