Law enforcement: Almost all reports to the BKA are made by "trusted flaggers"

From the beginning of 2024 to mid-2025, the Central Reporting Office for Criminal Content on the Internet (ZMI) at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) received a total of 36,015 reports. The majority of these submissions came from three so-called trusted flaggers: the Respect! and Hessen gegen Hetze hotlines and the state media authorities. This is according to a recently published answer from the German government to a question from the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag.

In the second quarter of this year alone, 6073 of the total of 6241 reports were made by Trusted Flaggers. The most important role was played by Hesse against hate speech with 4312 reports to the ZMI. The situation was similar in the first quarter of 2025: 4682 reports from trusted flaggers contrasted with 504 submissions from "other" sources such as the BKA directly or reports under the Digital Services Acts (DSA).

The ZMI has been in place since February 1, 2022 to centrally record criminal content on the internet with a focus on digital violence, hate and hate speech, check it for relevance and forward it to the relevant law enforcement authorities. Politicians and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) were already expecting around 250,000 submissions per year due to the reporting obligation enshrined in the previous Network Enforcement Act, which could result in 150,000 new criminal proceedings. However, the mass transfer of user data feared by civil rights activists initially failed to materialize.

Function of the trusted flaggers

In addition to government agencies, civil society organizations are now playing an increasingly important role. The status of trusted flagger is awarded by the Federal Network Agency. These whistleblowers are directly involved in the ZMI's reporting process. The regulatory authority emphasizes their independence: they are "always organizations that have special knowledge and expertise in identifying and reporting illegal content".

During this period, the ZMI received 22,009 reports regarding posts on Elon Musk's platform X, 5839 regarding posts on Facebook and 868 regarding Instagram. 2798 reports related to TikTok, 454 to YouTube, 792 to Telegram and 3255 to other platforms. WhatsApp is not considered separately.

Forwarding to local law enforcement agencies

Over the course of one and a half years, the ZMI classified 30,873 reports as criminally relevant and sorted out 4745. It assigned 22,957 reports to the phenomenon of politically motivated crime on the right, i.e. the vast majority. In contrast, there were only 233 cases from the left-wing spectrum. A particularly large number of reports related to offences against political figures, such as insults, slander and defamation, as well as the use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations.

The ZMI forwards content identified as criminally relevant to the locally responsible authorities. However, it cannot collect information on the further course of investigations or court proceedings. Its success rate is measured by its ability to identify a locally responsible law enforcement authority. In 87 percent of the cases processed, the ZMI was able to identify such an authority in Germany or a possible location abroad. The highest number of hits was recorded for reports on Facebook (94%), followed by X and Instagram (85% each). The ZMI now provides partners with monthly feedback on the results of the initial criminal law assessment so that they can improve their reporting practices.

(mma)