Germany: Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection opened consultation on Bill to strengthen civil and criminal protection against digital violence including content moderation authority governance

On 17 April 2026, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) opened a consultation on the draft Act on the Strengthening of Civil-Law and Criminal-Law Protection against Digital Violence (GgdG) until 22 May 2026. The GgdG would establish the procedural framework for a new private-enforcement regime allowing individuals affected by specified criminal offences committed via hosting services to obtain user-identity disclosure and court-ordered account suspensions in social networks. The triggering catalogue of offences would cover incitement to crime, public-peace threats, harmful dissemination of personal data, incitement to hatred, glorification of violence, insult, defamation, stalking, threats, image-based sexual abuse, the new offence of personality-rights violations through deceptive content, and violations under the Federal Data Protection Act and the Art Copyright Act. The GgdG would assign exclusive subject-matter jurisdiction to the Regional Courts (Landgerichte), with venue determined by the applicant's place of residence, seat, or establishment, and would allow state governments to concentrate jurisdiction in a single Regional Court for the districts of several. Disclosure and account suspension would each require prior judicial order, intended to ensure that anonymity is only lifted and accounts only restricted where the conduct meets the criminal-offence threshold. Courts would issue evidence-preservation orders against hosting and internet access providers to prevent loss of identity data and a copy of the contested content during the proceeding. Data preserved by the court under the evidence-preservation orders could be transmitted to criminal prosecution authorities for prosecution purposes only, with all other onward use prohibited. Where the user's identity is unknown, the court would oblige the hosting service provider to notify the user with screenshots and a response deadline, with anonymous responses permitted. Decisions would only become effective on becoming final, with a two-week appeal period and no court fees.