- The Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main ruled that Facebook can terminate accounts if identity verification is refused.
- The affected account was created in 2019 and moved to the fake account checkpoint.
- The user did not comply with the request to verify his identity, which led to him being blocked.
- The lawsuit against the block was dismissed; Facebook was allowed to terminate the user contract.
- The plaintiff had breached his obligations under the contract, which is why there was no entitlement to restoration.
- The court considered the interest in anonymity to be irrelevant; other networks are an option.
- The claim for damages in the amount of EUR 50.00 per day was also rejected.
The Frankfurt am Main Regional Court has ruled that Facebook can terminate an account with a user if the user refuses to undergo the identity verification required by the terms of use.
The account in question here was created in early 2019 and Facebook put it into “fake account checkpoint” mode. He did not comply with Facebook’s request to prove his identity and, for example, to send in a copy of his ID or to confirm the account by entering a confirmation code from one of its devices. The account was then blocked.
The lawsuit directed at this block has now been unsuccessful. The Regional Court of Frankfurt a.M. dismissed the action on the grounds that there was a claim for restoration of the account. Facebook was entitled to terminate the user contract because the plaintiff had breached its obligations under the contract. According to the terms of use, a user is obliged to provide information about himself. Accordingly, it must also be possible for the defendant to verify such information. Insofar as the plaintiff referred to the interest in preserving his anonymity, the court considered this to be irrelevant, as the plaintiff had not been obliged to disclose his name. In addition, the plaintiff was free to use other social networks that waive the disclosure of identity.
Consequently, the Regional Court also rejected the claim for damages in the amount of 50.00 euros per day.
