BKA expects 150,000 criminal proceedings per year Following Hate Comments

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is currently trying to prepare for an extensive wave of reports of criminal content. Because from February the new reporting obligations of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) ​​come into force.

“According to current estimates, around 250,000 NetzDG reports are to be expected annually, which will result in around 150,000 new criminal proceedings,” quotes Editorial network Germany (RND) a spokesman for the BKA. With the previous structures, such additional effort cannot of course be brought under control. The newly established Central Reporting Office for Criminal Content on the Internet (ZMI) will therefore play a central role. According to the BKA spokesman, this should start work on February 1st.

The ZMI is therefore staffed with 200 people at the start. In addition, the federal authority is also establishing connections to the police and judicial authorities of the federal states in order to be able to process the numerous reports to be expected together with them.

Facebook is not on schedule

The BKA even assumes that two of the largest platforms – Facebook and Google – will not even transmit reports at first. The two companies are currently taking action against the new regulation at the Cologne Administrative Court and have applied for temporary injunctions in order to get out of the reporting obligation pending clarification.

There could be a lot more reports here in the future – especially if you look at the comment culture on Facebook, of course. The NetzDG stipulates that the operators of online platforms should no longer simply delete criminal statements by users as violations of the usage guidelines. If there is a suspicion of criminal statements, these should rather be handed over to the competent authorities. This applies above all to blatant insults and massive threats, which are becoming increasingly common in certain circles.