Germany: Higher Regional Court of Munich on the publication of photographs taken from social media.
by Cristina BachmeierOn 17 March 2016, the Higher Regional Court of Munich (OLG Munich) decided that a newspaper is not allowed to publish the name and profile picture of a Facebook user who had posted anti-refugee comments.
Users of the social media network Facebook posted defamatory comments about refugees on their accounts, inter alia, comparing refugees to animals. In October 2015, the German newspaper Bild published these comments together with the users’ names and profile pictures under the heading: “Hatred against refugees – Bild shames the agitators”. One user sued the paper for violation of his privacy.
In an earlier ruling,…