The social network Facebook must not insist unreservedly that its users use their real names.

People who registered under a pseudonym four years ago can continue to use it.

The Federal Court of Justice clarified this in a landmark judgment on Thursday and thus declared the terms of use in these cases to be illegal (Az.: III ZR 3/21 and III ZR 4/21).

Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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The legal situation is open to all users who are only registered after May 25, 2018 and use a pseudonym.

The European General Data Protection Regulation has been in force in Germany since that day - and it still causes confusion.

Two users who had set up and used their Facebook account under a pseudonym and who wanted to continue to use the social network anonymously had complained.

However, this contradicts the group's terms of use, which it first introduced in 2015 and further expanded in April 2018.

According to this, the customers are obliged to use the name when using the network, which is also valid in normal life.

Means against hate and hatred

In both cases, Facebook asked users in 2018 and did not receive confirmation of the correct names, so the company initially blocked the respective accounts.

In at least one case, the lockdown is still ongoing;

the plaintiff demands that this be revoked.

In the second case, the user gave in and changed his profile name, and the account was then released again.

But he is also interested in a fundamental clarification. The plaintiffs argued that the obligation to clear the case encountered data protection concerns. In addition, the terms of use violate the Telemedia Act and are therefore illegal. There it is clearly stipulated that service providers must allow the use of a pseudonym if this is "technically possible and reasonable". Because of the General Data Protection Regulation, it is controversial whether this regulation can still apply in Germany. The European rules do not contain such a provision.

This is the rather unusual case that the German rules are stricter than the European requirements.

However, the BGH did not have to clarify on Thursday what the consequences would be.

For all cases after May 25, 2018, the legal situation is still open.

A spokeswoman for the Facebook parent company Meta also referred to this: "We take note of today's decision, which is expressly based on an outdated legal situation," she emphasized.

“Facebook is a platform where people can connect and share with each other using their real names.

Using real names contributes to authenticity on the platform.”   

The obligation to use real names is another means for Facebook in the fight against hate and hate speech on the Internet.

People who insult others or incite violence often do not use their real names on the networks.

It is therefore difficult to take action against them.

On the other hand, human rights activists in particular emphasize that it must be possible to express one's opinion online without fear.

In certain constellations, however, this is only possible using a pseudonym.