Lots of naked skin: Court overturns Facebook block on Filmwerkstatt Düsseldorf

The Filmwerkstatt Düsseldorf is celebrating a legal success. The non-profit association for cinematographic enthusiasts, together with the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF), has won a ruling from the Düsseldorf Regional Court that the blocking of the workshop's Facebook page by Facebook parent company Meta in December 2021 without prior notice or justification was unlawful. This was presumably triggered by the nipple ban on Meta networks, which had been contested for years: The workshop had posted a program note for the Oscar-nominated film "The Shaman and the Snake" with a still image showing a group of indigenous people dressed only in loincloths.

According to Meta, it was no longer possible to trace how the blockade came about. The plaintiffs suspect that algorithms used by the US company for content moderation classified parts of the photo as unacceptable nudity. Despite the lack of clarity about the reason for the block, Facebook initially did not unblock the association's page with around 4,000 followers at the request of Filmwerkstatt and GFF. It was only accessible again in June 2023, one and a half years after the block and a few months after the lawsuit was filed in April 2023.

Antitrust law turned out to be decisive

For the plaintiffs, the proceedings are an example of "what often happens in the art sector", but against which only a few can actually defend themselves: A post is automatically deleted because algorithms misjudge images. The existing review mechanisms are also not reliable. This fatally restricts the freedom of art, science and opinion. Large platform operators from the USA also often fall back on the position that they cannot be sued in Germany because their European headquarters are in Ireland. The law does provide for consumers to take legal action in German courts. However, there are many ambiguities. Non-profit associations are usually excluded from taking legal action from the outset.

"In this case, a German court was able to decide because it was an antitrust dispute," explains the GFF. Meta had exploited its own dominant market position through the arbitrary blockade and unfairly hindered the creative artists. The association had not been able to advertise its services on Facebook for a year and a half and was therefore unable to reach interested parties who supported it financially. The ruling is not only a success for artistic freedom, but also groundbreaking. In future, it will also offer other associations, artists and researchers an easier opportunity to gain a legal hearing. Civil rights activists are also hoping for a tailwind from the Digital Services Act (DSA): the regulation should prevent social media content from being blocked without justification.

(akn)