A German court has ruled that Facebook must delete user accounts that are exclusively used for defamatory posts. The Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main made the announcement on Friday.
A plaintiff had taken legal action against two profiles, on which defamatory statements such as “You’re a dumb sow” and “frigid, menopausal hag” were published. The court deemed this a violation of the plaintiff’s personality.
The judges based their decision on the fact that the profiles, in the overall circumstances, were set up solely for the purpose of making defamatory statements. The plaintiff was recognizable in her social circle, particularly due to the added images. In the case of one of the profiles, it was also a pseudonymized version of the plaintiff’s name, which was also deemed defamatory.
The court noted that in this case, deleting the entire profiles was the more effective means of preventing further legal violations. The decision is not yet final and Facebook can still request a revision.