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In a preliminary injunction, the Landgericht Berlin has prohibited the unfounded blocking of a Twitter account on the basis of “internal guidelines”. Twitter has come under criticism in recent weeks, mainly due to questionable suspensions in the run-up to the European elections and slow complaint management.
In the proceedings, the General Court held that admissible expressions of opinion had been suppressed for no reason because of the suspension.
The costs of the procedure must be borne by Twitter, but this is normal in the context of an injunction that has been granted.
Although the decision is a matter of individual case, the decision shows how important it is for social media networks, but also for other operators of forums, chat and content, a clean balancing act between liability, claims of third parties, obligations under the NetzDG but also get contract law regarding your own users, as well as, of course, that it may be important to record blockages and their reasons comprehensively. I do not comment on the fact that you may also be able to get back into the territory of the GDPR, which are currently hotly debated, in the context of this short news.
Marian Härtel is a lawyer and entrepreneur specializing in copyright law, competition law and IT/IP law, with a focus on games, esports, media and blockchain.
