Sharing permitted?

By sharing content in social networks, a user only makes it his own if he additionally connects the post with a positive rating.

The subject matter of the legal dispute was content in a social network. It concerned a post that a user had disseminated in the social network using the 'share' function and had additionally commented on.

The affected person demanded cessation because the post violated his right of personality.

Court decision – sharing permitted

With Judgment of 02.02.2017 – 4 U 1419/16 the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Dresden clarified that sharing alone does not establish a claim for cessation.

An appropriation could not be derived merely from the fact that the user had shared the post. The 'share' function is a function existing on the platform to draw attention to other users' private content without this being linked to any evaluation. Unlike the 'like' function, the 'share' function as such has no significance extending beyond the dissemination of the post.

By contrast, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) saw in the accompanying comment and the associated recommendation to read an unrestricted appropriation of the shared content.

Conclusion

That sharing in social networks alone does not constitute an appropriation had already been clarified by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt (Judgment of 26.11.2015, Az. 16 U 64/15) clarified. If the post is not only shared but also rated or commented on, the user makes the post his own. This in turn can, amongst other things, establish claims for cessation by affected persons.