Германия

In 2023, the Ministry of Justice published a key issue paper on legal protections against digital violence. The German Government worked closely with civil society organizations (CSOs) to deliver projects on this issue including one by HateAid that deals with new developments in the field of digital violence. The 2023 project focused on new forms of digital violence, including deepfakes, phishing and shadow banning. Germany's Federal Ministry of Justice and the departments of justice of the Länder participated in a working group on the topic of "Online services for reporting hate crime / hate comments for citizens", which examined measures to improve online reporting of hate crimes. 
In June 2023, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community of Germany, in co-operation with ODIHR and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, organized a hate crime data workshop o  review the existing hate crime recording and data collection framework and identify gaps. The workshop brought together representatives of agencies directly involved in hate crime recording in Germany,  including: police officers responsible for hate crime recording and investigations from the Criminal Police Offices of the German States (Länder) (LKA); representatives of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA); representatives of the Federal Ministry of Interior; representatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice; prosecutors from Berlin state; representatives of other state institutions; and two civil society organizations (RIAS and MANEO). Following the workshop, ODIHR and FRA prepared a report summarizing the main issues and measures to improve hate crime recording in Germany, as identified by workshop participants.

In line with the Network Enforcement Act (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG), social media companies are required to install notice and takedown mechanisms for illegal online content, including hate speech. Following complaints by users, the providers must remove illegal content immediately. To enforce the NetzDG, the Federal Office of Justice can issue regulatory fines in response to any systemic breaches against the provisions of the NetzDG. Consequently, in 2023 the Federal Office of Justice opened two formal proceedings against the social media company 'X'. However, the proceedings were suspended as the provisions of the NetzDG may not be in line with the law of the European Union (in line with the European Court of Justice ruling on the compliance of the Austrian Kommunikationsplattformen-Gesetz with the principle of control in the home Member State (Article 3(4) and (5) of Directive 2000/31/EC) (Judgment on 9 November 2023, C‑376/22)).