Cyberbullying and Hate Speech: Definition, Examples and What Counts Legally

“Hate speech” and “cyberbullying” are not terms from the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB). They describe behaviour. Whether that behaviour is a criminal offence is decided by individual provisions – and always on the facts of the specific case. This article puts the terms in context and shows which provisions may apply.

What is hate speech?

Hate speech means derogatory, demeaning or threatening statements against people – often because of a characteristic such as origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or political stance. Hate speech can target a single person or an entire group.

Examples of what happens every day:

• A comment under a photo that calls a person “vermin” because of their origin.
• A post calling for a certain group to be “chased out of the country”.
• A message to a local politician: “We know where you live.”

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying (Cybermobbing) describes repeated attacks over a longer period, with the aim of exposing, excluding or destroying a person. Typically, several people join in or watch, and the attacks do not stop after school or after work.

Typical forms:

• Insulting and mocking in group chats or comment sections.
• Spreading rumours, such as invented stories about someone's private or sex life.
• Exposing someone through embarrassing photos or videos that are shared without consent.
• Fake profiles that pose as the person affected.
• Exclusion, for example by deliberately removing someone from groups and mocking them for it.
• Doxxing: publishing an address, workplace or phone number, often combined with an invitation to “drop by”.

German criminal law has no separate offence of “cyberbullying”. Many individual acts do, however, fall under existing provisions.

Opinion or criminal offence?

Freedom of expression also protects sharp, polemical and hurtful statements. Not every comment that hurts you is a criminal offence. Roughly, you can distinguish:

• Opinions are value judgments. They are widely protected. The limit is reached when it is no longer about the matter but only about degrading the person (abusive criticism, Schmähkritik), with pure insults (formal insult, Formalbeleidigung), or when human dignity is attacked. In all other cases courts weigh things up: how serious is the statement, what was the context, who was meant?
• Statements of fact can be proven true or false. False statements that damage someone's reputation are not protected.

The context often matters more than the single word. That is why it is so important to secure the whole thread – how to do that is explained in Securing Evidence of Online Hate.

Which provisions may apply

The following provisions of the Criminal Code (StGB) play the biggest role in online hate. The range of penalty is given for each; a fine is usually also possible.

Insult (Beleidigung, § 185 StGB). Demeaning statements about a person. Up to one year; if the insult is committed publicly, in an assembly or by distributing content, up to two years. A public comment typically falls under this.

Defamation (üble Nachrede, § 186 StGB). Statements of fact that damage someone's reputation and cannot be proven true. Up to one year; publicly or by distributing content, up to two years.

Malicious defamation (Verleumdung, § 187 StGB). Reputation-damaging claims that the offender knows to be false. Up to two years; publicly or by distributing content, up to five years.

Incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung, § 130 StGB). Stirring up hatred or violence against groups, or attacking their human dignity, in a way that can disturb public peace. Three months to five years. More in Incitement to Hatred Online.

Threats (Bedrohung, § 241 StGB). Threatening certain unlawful acts, for example against body, liberty or sexual self-determination, directed at you or people close to you. Depending on the case, up to one or two years; publicly or by distributing content, up to three years.

Stalking (Nachstellung, § 238 StGB). Repeatedly following and harassing someone, expressly including digital means – such as constant messages from new accounts or fake profiles in your name. Up to three years, in particularly serious cases up to five years.

Endangering dissemination of personal data (gefährdendes Verbreiten personenbezogener Daten, § 126a StGB). The provision against doxxing: spreading data such as your address in order to expose you or people close to you to the danger of a criminal offence. Up to two years; for data that is not generally accessible, up to three years. So doxxing is punishable when this intent or suitability to endanger is present.

In addition, other provisions may apply depending on the case, for example hate-inciting insult (verhetzende Beleidigung, § 192a StGB), insulting persons in political life (§ 188 StGB), image recordings that violate the most personal sphere of life (§ 201a StGB), or distributing images without consent under the Art Copyright Act (Kunsturhebergesetz), which protects the right to one's own image. A compact overview can be found in Online Hate: What Is a Criminal Offence?.

Caution, deadline: offences prosecuted on request

Insult, defamation and malicious defamation are generally prosecuted only if you file a request for prosecution (Strafantrag, § 194 StGB). Even for insult offences there are exceptions in which an investigation can be opened without a request.

You have three months to file the request (§ 77b StGB). The period begins when you learn of the act and of the identity of the offender. With anonymous accounts, it therefore often begins later. But do not rely on that: file the request as early as possible, if necessary against persons unknown. How that works and what happens next is explained in Criminal Complaint or Lawyer?.

Incitement to hatred, threats, stalking and doxxing under § 126a, by contrast, are offences prosecuted ex officio (Offizialdelikte). Here the authorities investigate on their own as soon as they learn of the offence – a report is enough.

What platforms have to do

Regardless of criminal law, you can report unlawful content to the platform. The Digital Services Act (DSA) obliges platforms in the EU to offer easy-to-find reporting channels, to review reports carefully and to tell you their decision, with reasons. If you disagree, you can use the internal complaint system and turn to an out-of-court dispute settlement body. In Germany, the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) oversees compliance as Digital Services Coordinator, supplemented by the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (DDG, the German act accompanying the DSA). Details are in Digital Services Act: What Platforms Must Do About Online Hate.

Important: a deletion ends the attack on the platform, but it does not pursue the person behind it. So always secure the evidence first, then report.

If you are affected

Whether content is a criminal offence cannot be said without the exact wording and the context. That is not your job either. If you are unsure, report your case via our form. We check your report for completeness and refer it to a partner law firm that can assess your case. You will find first practical steps in What to Do About Hate Comments: 5 Concrete Steps.