Online Hate: What Is a Criminal Offence?

Many attacks online are criminal offences in Germany – even when they come under a false name, in a group or by direct message. The same provisions apply to a comment on Instagram as to a sentence said in the street. Anyone who insults people publicly or spreads lies even faces higher penalties.

This overview shows the main offences with examples and maximum penalties. In most cases a fine is possible instead of imprisonment. Whether specific content is a criminal offence always depends on the wording and the context.

Insult (Beleidigung, § 185 StGB)

An insult is a statement that degrades a person – through abusive words, demeaning gestures or value judgments that damage their honour.

Example: Under a teacher's photo, someone writes: “You are a piece of filth.”

Maximum penalty: up to one year. If the insult is committed publicly or by distributing content, for example as a public comment, up to two years.

Defamation (üble Nachrede, § 186 StGB)

This is about statements of fact, not opinions: someone claims something about you that makes you look contemptible or damages your reputation and cannot be proven true.

Example: In a local Facebook group, someone writes that the owner of a bakery sells out-of-date goods and cheats his customers. There is no evidence.

Maximum penalty: up to one year; publicly or by distributing content, up to two years.

Malicious defamation (Verleumdung, § 187 StGB)

Like defamation, but more serious: the offender knows that his claim is false.

Example: After a break-up, a man spreads on TikTok that his former partner has a criminal record for theft. He knows that this is not true.

Maximum penalty: up to two years; publicly or by distributing content, up to five years.

Threats (Bedrohung, § 241 StGB)

It is a criminal offence to threaten you or a person close to you with an act against body, liberty or sexual self-determination, or with a serious crime (Verbrechen). It makes no difference whether the offender intends to carry out the threat. What matters is that it is meant to come across as serious.

Example: A local politician receives the message: “We know where you live. Soon your house will burn.”

Maximum penalty: up to three years if a serious crime is threatened publicly or by distributing content. In simpler cases the penalty ranges are lower.

Stalking (Nachstellung, § 238 StGB)

This means stalking, expressly including digital forms: repeatedly seeking contact although you do not want it, spying on your accounts, spreading pictures of you or posting content under your name that exposes you – in a way that can noticeably impair your life.

Example: A former colleague writes to you every day for weeks, creates a new account after every block and comments on each of your photos.

Maximum penalty: up to three years, in particularly serious cases up to five years, for example for stalking over at least six months.

Incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung, § 130 StGB)

Stirring up hatred or violence against groups, or against individuals because of their origin, religion or other characteristics, or attacking their human dignity – in a way that can disturb public peace. Publicly denying the Holocaust also falls under this.

Maximum penalty: up to five years. You will find examples and boundaries in Incitement to Hatred Online.

Hate-inciting insult (verhetzende Beleidigung, § 192a StGB)

Covers hate content that attacks a group in its human dignity – for example because of its origin, disability or sexual orientation – and that someone deliberately sends to a person from that group who did not ask for it. Typical: racist or homophobic direct messages.

Maximum penalty: up to two years.

Publishing private data (gefährdendes Verbreiten personenbezogener Daten, § 126a StGB)

The provision against doxxing: it is a criminal offence to publicly spread data such as your address in order to expose you or people close to you to the danger of a criminal offence.

Example: An account posts the home address and workplace of an activist, along with the sentence: “In case anyone wants to drop by.”

Maximum penalty: up to two years; for data that is not generally accessible, up to three years.

Other provisions

Depending on the case, other provisions may apply, for example 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. How all of this shows up in typical forms of cyberbullying is explained in Cyberbullying and Hate Speech: Definition, Examples and What Counts Legally.

What is not a criminal offence

Freedom of expression also protects harsh, polemical and hurtful criticism. As a rule, the following are not criminal offences:

• sharp criticism of your work, your behaviour or your views, such as “Your video is poorly researched and dangerous”,
• true facts, even if they are unpleasant – unless the form is insulting,
• mockery and irony, as long as they do not tip over into degradation.

Content that is not a criminal offence can still break the platform's rules or be impermissible under civil law. So reporting it to the platform can still be worthwhile.

Offence prosecuted on request or ex officio?

Insult, defamation and malicious defamation are offences prosecuted on request (Antragsdelikte, § 194 StGB). As a rule, they are prosecuted only if you file a request for prosecution (Strafantrag). You have three months for this, from the day you learn of the act and of the identity of the offender (§ 77b StGB). With anonymous accounts, the period therefore often begins later. But do not rely on that – file the request early, if necessary against persons unknown.

In principle, the same applies to hate-inciting insult. Here, however, the public prosecutor's office can investigate without a request if it sees a special public interest.

Threats, stalking, incitement to hatred and doxxing under § 126a are offences prosecuted ex officio (Offizialdelikte). Here the authorities investigate on their own as soon as they learn of them. A report is enough.

Typical mistakes

• A criminal complaint without a request for prosecution. For insults, state explicitly: “I file a request for prosecution for all offences that may apply.”
• Waiting to see if it stops. The deadline keeps running anyway.
• Insulting back. Anyone who hits back risks being reported themselves.
• Securing evidence too late. Deleted content can hardly be proven any more.

And the platforms?

The Digital Services Act requires platforms to offer ways to report illegal content, to review reports and to tell you their decision. A report does not replace legal steps against the person who wrote the content. More in Digital Services Act: What Platforms Must Do About Online Hate.

What you can do now

• Secure the content in full before it disappears. How to do that is explained in Securing Evidence of Online Hate.
• Keep an eye on the date: for insult, defamation and malicious defamation, the three-month deadline is running.
• Think about whether you want to file a criminal complaint, take civil-law action, or both. Criminal Complaint or Lawyer? explains the differences.
• Report your case via our form. We check the report for completeness and refer it to a partner law firm. Whether content is a criminal offence is assessed by the law firm, not by us.