Federal Government, Criminal Law and the Attempt at Cybergrooming!

Cybergrooming is the targeted response of children on the Internet with the aim of initiating sexual contacts. Cybergrooming is a criminal offence in accordance with Section 176 paragraph 4, point 3, of the Criminal Code.

The risk of children becoming victims of cybergrooming has continued to increase over the last
years. Digitalization is advancing and the use of digital services is also widespread among children. It is true that the offence is very broad and, given the dangers to children in the digital world, already criminalises an early act of preparation. However, it does not work if the perpetrator only believes that he is acting on a child, but actually communicates with an adult, for example.

According to Section 176 paragraph 6 of the second half sentence of the German Civil Code (StGB), the attempt at cybergrooming is expressly not a criminal offence. This also applies to the above-mentioned cases of unfit trial, in which the perpetrator acts on a “sham child”.

The federal government wants to change this with a new bill. With regard to cybergrooming, the amendment to Section 176(6) of the German Criminal Code (StGB) is intended to introduce attempted criminal liability for the constellations of unsuitable
attempts in which the perpetrator erroneously assumes that they are influencing a child.
An amendment to Section 184i(1) StGB is also intended to limit the scope of the subsidiarity clause in the criminal offense of sexual harassment to the provisions of Section 13 of the Special Part of the StGB.

More details can be found here.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.