Anna-Lena von Hodenberg fights that digital baiting on the net – by helping those affected to sue the haters.
When right-wing extremism grew stronger at the end of 2015 and right-wing populist parties moved into more and more state parliaments, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg realized that she had to do something. A country that is tilting to the right – she didn't just want to watch it. Without further ado, she quit her job as a TV journalist and joined the campaign platform Campact as the person responsible for anti-racism.
If something scares me, I approach it
She grew up in the spirit of "never again fascism", she says. Her parents often took her with them on the Easter marches, which shaped her political stance – "If the outlawing of right-wing extremism becomes fragile, it threatens what our society is today." In general, she is an actionist type: "If something scares me, I approach it."
She found her subject after a lecture by an extremism researcher that she heard some time later. The speaker explained how systematically right-wing groups use the Internet, how they deliberately cover politicians and activists with hateful comments and threats of violence in order to silence them. And thus deter many others. "It was only then that I really realized how dangerous internet agitation really is." She found that there was no one-stop shop for the victims of digital hate. And the police and the judiciary often trivialized the attacks because "it only happened on the Internet".
To change that, von Hodenberg founded HateAid two years ago with Campact and Fearless Democracy, an association that wants to disclose how populist anger is actually spreading online. The organization supports the victims of digital agitation and offers them legal assistance. Anna-Lena von Hodenberg considers lawsuits in the fight against hate crime to be elementary: "It must be clear that the Internet is not a legal vacuum." But there is a hurdle: Anyone who is defamed on the Internet has to sue under civil law – and thus shoulder the process costs, which can quickly amount to 4,000 euros.
Law against hate crime on the Internet
This, too, emphasizes von Hodenberg, must not stay that way: "In times when people are being approached so massively in front of everyone, this is no longer a private issue. There must be a public interest in taking action." That is why HateAid is pre-financing the lawsuits – through donations and grants, including from the Federal Ministry of Justice. And there is the deal that whoever receives compensation for pain and suffering as a result of the lawsuit will return it to HateAid.
The organization helps over 200 people affected every month. Probably the best-known client is the Green politician Renate Künast, who is repeatedly massively attacked online. With the help of HateAid, she has filed a lawsuit against more than 20 drastic verbal abuse. Initially unsuccessful: The Berlin Regional Court ruled that even statements such as "filthy cunt" were covered by freedom of expression. But Künast and HateAid lodged a complaint and were right in twelve cases: The defamations meet the criminal offense of insulting. With the remaining abuse they have now taken to the Federal Constitutional Court.
There is growing awareness of the problem in politics. In June the Bundestag passed a law against hate crime on the Internet, digital agitation is now to be punished more severely. Since then, the threat of bodily harm and sexual assault has also been a criminal offense. In addition, the social networks not only have to delete posts that are illegal, but also report them to the BKA.
In the Corona crisis, the digital agitation from the right increased, says von Hodenberg: "There was quickly talk of the 'Chinese virus' or that migrants had brought it in." The situation has worsened because people have more time: The haters specifically hunt down groups such as trans people, intensify the search for private information about their victims, for example by reconstructing street names from photos and posting them on the Internet for the victims intimidate. Von Hodenberg calls on us to show moral courage in the digital world as well: "The network is just as much a part of public space as the street, so you have to face the haters there just as resolutely."
Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, 37, worked as a journalist for RTL and NDR and lives in Berlin. She has been the managing director of HateAid since the end of 2018. To clear her mind, she dances the tango.
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