The social media platform TikTok is legally defending itself against having to forward user data on a large scale to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on the basis of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG).

The company has filed a complaint with the Cologne administrative court, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Specifically, it is about the new paragraph 3a.

This stipulates that certain criminal content should be reported immediately to the authorities.

The "Spiegel" had previously reported.

Facebook and Google filed summary proceedings against the corresponding regulation back in July.

According to the court spokeswoman, it is still unclear when a decision will be made.

According to information from the “Spiegel”, TikTok also opposes the obligation to delete obviously criminal content after 24 hours at the latest if users have reported it to the company.

The NetzDG aims to combat hate crime, criminal false news and other criminal content on social network platforms more effectively.

It is intended to ensure that the BKA can fight criminal offenses on the Internet more efficiently and quickly with a central office.

Online platforms have criticized the law for giving them law enforcement tasks that should be left to the police and other law enforcement agencies.