Instagram – Court Ruling (Germany, 2022)

The plaintiff is a minor. A person unknown to the plaintiff opened an account on the social media platform Instagram at an unknown time with the user name "plaintiff_was_hacked". Pictures were posted on the account showing a young woman dressed only in underwear, with her face covered by a smartphone. The photos contained statements that gave the impression that the person depicted was interested in a variety of sexual contacts. After the plaintiff was recognised by other persons and approached about the content of the account, she reported the account to the platform operator and it was blocked. The plaintiff requested the Regional Court of Flensburg (LG Flensburg) to order both Instagram and the telemedia service provider to disclose information about the owner of the account, including their IP-address, based on the old German Telemedia Act. She claimed that she needed the requested information to enforce civil law claims in the form of injunctive relief and claims for damages for violations of personal rights against the owner of the user account. The LG Flensburg dismissed her application as the plaintiff had no substantive right to information against Instagram. Furthermore, it held that a general right to information against telemedia services as "non-interferers" did not exist under the current legal situation. A complaint at the same court was not successful either. The plaintiff appealed that decision at the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein (OLG Schleswig). Before the OLG Schleswig, she requested that Instagram be allowed and obliged to provide her with the user's IP address used for uploading the posts and images retrievable, together with the exact upload time, their name, e-mail address, the IP address last used to access the account, and the user's telephone number. The appeal succeded with regard to the inventory data, but not regarding the IP addresses. The OLG Schleswig applied § 21(2) Telecommunication Telemedia Data Protection Act