The Nuremberg District Court has issued an injunction prohibiting the blocking of a Twitter account based on the tweet “Current reason: Urgent election recommendation for all AfD voters. Be sure to sign the ballot paper. ;-)” has been blocked.
Since the signature on the ballot papers would invalidate it (there is a secret ballot in Germany), Twitter saw in the tweet an unauthorized election manipulation and blocked the account completely. There has been no response to a warning.
In its decision, the court makes it clear that the fundamental right to freedom of expression outweighs Twitter’s right to enforce its own terms and conditions. This would apply in particular to satire (associated with a smilie) as in the present case. Whether the guidelines for avoiding election manipulation were thus effectively integrated into the contract between Twitter and the user could therefore be left unanswered.
In the meantime, there are some judgments and decisions to block the social media account. See, for example, the Berlin Regional Court, or the Cologne Higher Regional Court.
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.
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