The grieving parents of a 15-year-old who was killed by a subway train in 2012 do not have the right to read her Facebook chat history, a court in Berlin ruled on Wednesday. As the reasons for the girl's death - whether it was an accident or suicide - remain unclear, the parents have sought access to the account to examine whether their daughter had ever mentioned wanting to die in chats with friends or in posts.
In 2015, a lower court in Berlin ruled in favor of the parents' request, calling the contents of the girl's Facebook account part of her legacy. That panel considered emails and Facebook entries similar to letters and diaries, which "can be inherited regardless of their content."
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Berlin's court of appeal dealt the parents a setback with the latest ruling, however. "We see it differently than the state court," Chief Justice Björn Retzlaff said. The appeals court ruled exclusively on the US social media giant's argument that opening up the girl's account would compromise her contacts' constitutional expectation of telecommunications privacy: "That is the main point of our decision," Retzlaff said.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Free speech or illegal content?
Whether hate speech, propaganda or activism, governments across the globe have upped efforts to curb content deemed illegal from circulating on social networks. From drawn-out court cases to blanket bans, DW examines how some countries try to stop the circulation of illicit content while others attempt to regulate social media.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Social media law
After a public debate in Germany, a new law on social media came into effect in October. The legislation imposes heavy fines on social media companies, such as Facebook, for failing to take down posts containing hate speech. Facebook and other social media companies have complained about the law, saying that harsh rules might lead to unnecessary censorship.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Right to be forgotten
In 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that European citizens had the right to request search engines, such as Google and Bing, remove "inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive" search results linked to their name. Although Google has complied with the ruling, it has done so reluctantly, warning that it could make the internet as "free as the world's least free place."
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Blanket ban
In May 2017, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Russian social media platforms and web services. The blanket ban affected millions of Ukrainian citizens, many of whom were anxious about their data. The move prompted young Ukrainians to protest on the streets, calling for the government to reinstate access to platforms that included VKontakte (VK), Russia's largest social network.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Safe Harbor
In 2015, the European Court of Justice ruled that Safe Harbor, a 15-year-old pact between the US and EU that allowed the transfer of personal data without prior approval, was effectively invalid. Austrian law student Max Schrems launched the legal proceedings against Facebook in response to revelations made by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Regulation
In China, the use of social media is highly regulated by the government. Beijing has effectively blocked access to thousands of websites and platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Instead, China offers its citizens access to local social media platforms, such as Weibo and WeChat, which boast hundreds of millions of monthly users.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Twitter bans Russia-linked accounts
Many politicians and media outlets blame Russia's influence for Donald Trump's election victory in 2016. Moscow reportedly used Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Instagram to shape public opinion on key issues. In October 2017, Twitter suspended over 2,750 accounts due to alleged Russian propaganda. The platform also banned ads from RT (formerly Russia Today) and the Sputnik news agency.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Facebook announces propaganda-linked tool
With social media under pressure for allowing alleged Russian meddling, Facebook announced a new project to combat such efforts in November 2017. The upcoming page will give users a chance to check if they "liked" or followed an alleged propaganda account on Facebook or Instagram. Meanwhile, Facebook has come under fire for not protecting user data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Author: Lewis Sanders IV (dj)
Facebook's German woes
The most recent verdict is likely not the last as the law continues to evaluate just what kind of medium social media is. Appeals could see the case go all the way to Germany's Federal Court of Justice.
"We feel for the family and respect their wish," a Facebook spokesperson said following the court's decision on Wednesday. "We will work to find a solution that helps the family and at the same time respects the privacy of others who could be affected."
The social network has faced increased scrutiny in Germany, where authorities have proposed heavy fines for outlets that fail to wipe hate speech from their sites. Facebook has, however, also had its successes in Germany.
In a recent high-profile court case, the website clinched victory against a man who took a celebratory selfie with Chancellor Angela Merkel after arriving to Germany as a refugee and then instantly became the target of racist trolls and misinformation. He had requested that Facebook search out and delete defamatory posts, but the court ruled that that could present major technical hurdles for a site that has in many ways become the internet's No. 1 source of news - fake, libelous or otherwise.
mkg/rt (AFP, dpa, epd, kna)
