Armin Wolf in the fight against hate online: Is the rule of law powerless?

Armin Wolf in the fight against hate online: Is the rule of law powerless?

Vorarlberg, Österreich - Dealing with hatred on the Internet can still be described as a legal challenge. Armin Wolf, moderator of the ORF-ZIB, addresses the helpless attempts, against insults and criminal content on platform X in a current blog post. Wolf is regularly faced with misogynist, racist and politically extreme postings that are spread by an anonymous account. Despite national and EU law regulations, such as the Hass-in-Netz control law from 2021, the possibilities for enforcement are shaky. A message on X remained, as Wolf reports, without any effect, since the group saw no violation of its own guidelines.

In September 2024, the lawyer Philipp Längle from Vorarlberg filed a criminal complaint against the unknown author and looked for the publication of the user data. But the Vienna Criminal Court published an information order that was ignored by X. As in the Irish judiciary, which declared itself to be uncertain due to non -physically stored data, the efforts in the United States were also rated as unsuccessful. The American authorities did not classify it as a primary crime. These experiences show that prominent people with legal support against the hostility also have no chance.

challenges of the digital service act

To combat such problems, the Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force on February 17, 2024. [Tagesschau] reports that this legal framework serves to act faster against illegal content on the Internet and to fight hatred and agitation in the social network in particular. Large platforms that are considered a "gatekeeper" and have over 45 million users in the EU are obliged to report suspected cases to the authorities and to remove illegal content promptly. According to this law, providers such as X also have the responsibility to protect minors and to take into account the psychological effects of their services.

Despite these progress, there is still many ambiguities that can result in lengthy legal proceedings. Critics, such as Patrick Breyer, warn that the definition of violations is problematic and countries that are only illegal in their territory may be extinguished across Europe.

measures to combat hate

In addition to the DSA, the "Hass-in-Netz-Kündungsgesetz" offers expanded legal options to take action on the Internet. The legal measures include judicial deletion of hate postings and a relieved research by perpetrators: inside if this is requested from the regional court. Victims of hate online also benefit from psychosocial and legal support without cost risk, which significantly improves their situation.

The Ministry of Justice is also a member of the "No Hate Speech" committee that has been active since 2016 and does important awareness work. Nevertheless, it is evident that the rule of law and the existing rules such as the DSA are often perceived as toothless. Wolf draws a critical conclusion: the path to act legally against hate postings remains tedious and frustrated, which makes the structures of platform capitalism a significant hurdle.