Telegram must pay fine of millions of dollars

After Telegram was able to pull its neck out of the noose of justice several times, the controversial messenger service now apparently has to accept a fine in the millions. The reason given by the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) is violations of the NetzDG.

Telegram violates NetzDG

The Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) represents one of the most important catalogs of conduct for messenger services and social networks. Here, the focus is particularly on the proper handling of issues such as hate speech and criminal content. At the beginning of the year, there were already speculations that Telegram could face a heavy fine due to various violations of this law. The violations of the NetzDG are now costing the service dearly. The Federal Office of Justice announced on Monday, October 17, 2022, that it had served two notices on the Dubai-based company. Altogether the penalty payment is to cover over 5 million euro. In particular, the poor complaint management of the messenger is behind the horrendous fine.

To date, the company has not been able to provide a reporting channel that complies with the NetzDG. One problem is not only that users cannot submit complaints about questionable or even criminally relevant content in accordance with the law. On top of that, Telegram still does not have a summonable address even in Germany. This is mandatory in this country in order to be able to contact authorities and courts. While the non-existent domestic address “only” carries a fine of 875,000 euros, the fine for the inadequate complaint procedure weighs in significantly more at 4.25 million euros. The fact that the federal government is taking a tougher stance against Messenger already became clear in February of this year. There one demanded Telegram to block 64 channels.

Messenger is difficult to reach

According to its own information, the Federal Office of Justice tried to send the company a legally binding letter for over a year. This was a summons to a hearing. In Dubai, a delivery was probably not possible. This was attempted for almost a whole year without success. Accordingly, it was inevitable for the authority to publicly advertise the hearing. For this purpose, the letters appeared in the Federal Gazette, which could be read by all. The public hearing letter seemed to have been crowned with success.

As a result, a law firm had come forward stating that it wanted to act for Telegram. However, the contact was probably not crowned with success. Since the responsible law firm was also unable to produce anything weighty against the accusations, the judicial authority saw itself forced to impose the fine on Telegram. After successful access on October 10, 2022, the messenger still has a little time to appeal the decision.