How to Deal with Fake Profiles and Stolen Content on Social Media: A Legal Perspective

Those affected can file a criminal complaint and criminal complaint with the police and the public prosecutor’s office. For certain criminal offenses, a so-called criminal application must be filed for criminal prosecution. Affected persons should therefore file a criminal complaint against persons unknown within three months of learning about the fake profile, provided that the perpetrator is actually unknown at this point in time. If the application deadline is missed, criminal prosecution for these so-called application offenses is no longer possible. The application offenses include, for example, defamation offenses or the unauthorized procurement of personal data. In addition, a civil lawsuit could also be initiated due to a breach of privacy.

If the perpetrator demands money for an offer that does not exist, this can constitute fraud. Finally, depending on the constellation, other possible criminal offenses include defamation, unauthorized data acquisition, unauthorized intrusion into a data processing system and the unauthorized acquisition of personal data. Criminal liability also depends in particular on how the images of these women were obtained.

Fraud and unauthorized data acquisition, the most serious criminal offenses that can be considered, are punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to five years.

This is difficult to assess and depends, among other things, on where the alleged perpetrators created these fake profiles and how sophisticated the procedure was, for example to make it more difficult to trace their IP or money flows. The chances of success also depend on the extent to which and how quickly the affected social media network and the operators of the corresponding domains make data available to the law enforcement authorities. If the alleged perpetrator is abroad, criminal prosecution is usually not easy.

On September 1, 2023, the new criminal offense of identity misuse will come into force, according to which anyone who uses the identity of another person without their consent to harm them or themselves or a third party will be punished with a fine or imprisonment of up to one year gain an unlawful advantage. In this respect, cases of identity misuse will be punished without discussion in the future. This gives those affected better protection, which is particularly important if no other criminal offenses are committed at the same time as an identity misuse.