Germany’s Federal Court again suspends Künast’s case against Meta — Der Spiegel

In Karlsruhe, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) has again suspended proceedings in Green Party politician Renate Künast’s lawsuit against Meta and referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling. As Der Spiegel reports, the German court believes that a number of important legal questions in this case have still not been clarified.

Dispute over a fake quote

Since 2015, Künast has sought to stop the spread on Facebook of a meme featuring her photograph and an invented statement that Germans supposedly should learn Turkish. The politician never made this statement. The image with the text was posted and shared in different versions.

The original meme has already been removed. At the same time, Künast seeks to have Facebook independently find and remove all materially similar versions without separate notifications about each identified posting. She told the court that a private individual cannot hire dozens of people to search for similar posts worldwide. In the lawsuit filed in 2021, the politician also demanded compensation of at least €10,000.

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Questions for the Court of Justice of the EU

In 2024, the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court upheld Künast’s right to seek an injunction, but rejected her claim for compensation. The BGH had already considered the case in February 2025, after which it decided to wait for a ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU in another similar case.

At the end of 2025, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that operators of online marketplaces are responsible for the dissemination of personal data in advertisements. They must review advertisements containing sensitive data before publication and prevent the unlawful copying of such materials onto other websites.

During the new hearing, the BGH expressed doubts as to whether this and other rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU can be applied to Künast’s lawsuit. In particular, the court wants to clarify whether Meta bears unlimited liability under the EU General Data Protection Regulation and whether the company can invoke the exemption from liability provided for by the E-Commerce Directive. Proceedings in case No. VI ZR 64/24 have been suspended pending the ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU.