If a blogger reproduces a third-party statement on their internet blog, they are only not liable if they mark the opinion as a quote and do not adopt the statement as their own.
This was the decision of the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main in its ruling of 13.10.2016 (Ref.: 16 W 57/16).
Factual assertion as a quote in an internet blog
An internet blogger made critical comments in one of his blogs about the flow of money in Israel.
As a result, a plaintiff took legal action against him for injunctive relief.
He allegedly made untrue statements.
According to the blogger, he did not make the statements himself, but merely quoted them as a statement by a third party.
Insofar as this statement was untrue, he was not in breach of his duty of care.
This is because he did not have to check the statement, which came from an Israeli ambassador in Germany, due to the seriousness of the source.
No own statement by the blogger
In the opinion of the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main, the blogger had not made any factual claims of his own.
Even if liability for a third-party statement is possible in principle, it must be denied in this individual case.
Liability for a third-party statement only applies where the blogger adopts the statement of a third party as his own (BGH, judgment of January 30, 1996 – VI ZR 386/94).
In order to do so, the blogger must incorporate the third-party statement into his or her line of thought in such a way that the entire statement appears to be his or her own.
Insofar as the third-party statement is simply part of a documentation of the state of opinion, in which statements and opinions from different sides are compiled and compared, it is not a factual claim of its own.
The author of the text is also not liable for these third-party statements.
Low requirements for the recognizability of citations
In the opinion of the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main, there is also no obligation to expressly distance oneself from the third-party statements.
It is sufficient to identify the statement as a quotation using quotation marks and italics.
The original source of the statement does not necessarily have to be named
“Keep your eyes open” when writing blog posts
As a result, the ruling of the Higher Regional Court makes it clear that strict requirements are still placed on a blog post.
The author is always liable for third-party statements if he uses them as his own and does not clearly emphasize the third-party nature.
Incorporating them into one’s own argumentation without visually distinguishing them as a quote is sufficient to trigger liability.
Internet bloggers may rely on privileged sources with regard to the truthfulness of a quotation.
They are not subject to the same high standards of due diligence as representatives of the press, for example.