Court case 14 U 150/23 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2020)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A German court ruled on a case where a social network temporarily deactivated a user's account after it was used by someone else to share illegal content. The court mostly sided with the social network, but the user wanted the company to remove any notes about the deactivation from their records. This case highlights the importance of clear communication and procedures when handling account issues.
What happened
A social network deactivated a user's account after it was used to share illegal content without their knowledge.
Who was affected
A user of a social network whose account was deactivated due to unauthorized activity.
What the authority found
The court mostly rejected the user's claims, supporting the social network's decision to deactivate the account.
Why this matters
This case underscores the need for social networks to have clear policies and communication strategies when dealing with account deactivations. It also highlights the importance of allowing users to respond to actions taken against their accounts.
GDPR Articles Cited
The controller operates a social network in Europe. The data subject has had a private account on this network since 2008. In September 2022 an unknown third party distributed child pornography - violating the controller's terms and conditions - using the data subject's account without authorisation. On 11 September 2022 the data subject's account was temporarily deactivated. The controller had not previously heard the data subject and initially did not give a reason for blocking . Due to the deactivation, the data subject was unable to use the network's functions. The data subject contacted the controller on 28 September 2022 and requested - inter alia - to restore the user account and remove the deletion and blocking notes from the data subject's user data record. On 1 October 2022, the account was reactivated. The blocking of the account and the deletion of the posts created by third parties are still recorded in the controller's data set. = The data subject claimed in the first instance that the deactivation of her account was unlawful but the regional court mostly rejected the action and the data subject appealed this decision requesting - inter alia - that # It is determined that the deactivation of the data subject's profile was in breach of contract. # The controller is ordered to correct the data subject's data stored by it so that all deletion and blocking notes are deleted from the user data record # The controller is ordered to refrain from blocking the data subject because of the publication of contributions or from deactivating her account for this reason without informing her in advance of the intended blocking/account deactivation and granting the opportunity to respond with a subsequent new decision. Alternatively, in the event that the court considers the above application to be too far-reaching: The controller is ordered to refrain from blocking the data subject on www.xxx.com without informing her in advance of the intended blocking/account dea
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case 14 U 150/23 in DE
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case 14 U 150/23 - Germany (2020). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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