Social media accounts and imprint

Obligation to impress?

For the occasion, it should be remembered once again that in the case of commercial use of social media accounts, and this threshold is not very high (and certainly not equated with companies, etc.), an imprint must also be kept with these. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or Twitch.

The necessary information can be found, as otherwise, in Section 5 of the Telemedia Act. Since most social media accounts have hardly any possibility to deposit an imprint, courts have recognized that one may also link such an imprint in an appropriate place.

By the way, these accounts also include career portals such as LinkedIn or Xing, if these are really commercially used accounts, i.e. you write to new customers and the like or publish content that is available via your own services and projects.

Separation important!

There should also be a separation between, for example, the company’s account and the account of the owner of the company. These are not the same persons and if, for example, a consultant is active on LinkedIn, but in the imprint, for example, a “consultant GmbH” indicates, this might not be sufficient.

Warnings for missing or incorrect imprints are as varied as they are unnecessary. It should therefore not be unnecessarily risked to risk warning costs here.

Who could it affect who probably doesn’t know?

• Streamer
• Esport teams that trade commercially
• Consultant
• Self-employed esport casters
• Self-employed graphic designers, authors and the like.

It should be noted that of course every social media account needs the hint/reference. Even if, for example, you have deposited an imprint on YouTube, a missing imprint on the Twitter account, which is also used, would probably be a reminder. In any case, as long as the Twitter account also contributes to the promotion of its own YouTube channel or brand and thus its own revenue.

Received a warning?

Did you still receive a warning about this? Please follow my instructions and send me the warning quickly, preferably by e-mail. I will contact you for further steps.

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.