Social media and criminal law - criminally relevant statements in a new environment

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Tobias Reinbacher; Professor Dr. Frank Peter Schuster
• Subject Area: Criminal Law
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 519476214

The project deals with punishable conduct in social media, with a focus on offences with regard to criminally relevant speech. The overarching research question is: Can the dangers posed to the peaceful coexistence in society by criminally relevant statements made in social media be adequately countered with the current means of criminal law and criminal procedure as well as the mechanisms of international mutual legal assistance or do we need legislative reforms? To this end, the technical and constitutional backgrounds of social media will be investigated insofar as they are relevant to the research question. In terms of substantive criminal law, the project will focus on criminal laws dealing with criminally relevant speech, particularly hate speech and fake news (1.). Cyberbullying, cyberstalking and the publishing of lists of enemies as well as the creation of fake accounts will also be dealt with as special issues. The focus will lie on the current legislative reforms of the German Penal Code. In the process it is important to work out common issues, for example regarding perpetration and participation, the distinction between action and omission, as well as the termination of the offence and the statute of limitations. Social bots also pose a particular problem. Substantive criminal law must also be enforceable. Therefore, another focus of the project will lie on procedural law and problems of cross-border investigations, which arise in a new form in social networks (2.). In order to determine legal and practical problems of the prosecution another part of the project will be to conduct guideline-based expert interviews. Furthermore, we will cooperate with colleagues from the U.S., Brazil, India and ROC (Taiwan) to learn about their experiences and solutions. One applicant will concentrate on substantive law with a corresponding doctoral project as well as his own research and conference contributions.One applicant will focus on procedural law and mutual assistance and will supervise a corresponding doctoral project. The comparative analysis as well as prospective criminal and criminal procedure laws will be dealt with by both applicants in a single publication and in contributions to the conferences. Other members of the project group, will work with the other participants on the expert interviews. A workshop and a concluding international academic conference will further advance the discussion. Two dissertations, individual publications and a joint paper (incl. possible legislative proposals) by the two applicants are to conclude the project.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Tamina Preuß