Digital Violence: Status of the EU Directive Implementation in Germany

• In early 2024, the EU established a directive requiring member states to criminalize cyberstalking, harassment, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
• Germany has until June 14, 2027, to transpose these requirements into national law.
• Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig has proposed legislation targeting digital violence, including specific provisions for image-based abuse and deepfakes.

Key Legislative Measures and Debates

• Image-based abuse: The draft legislation goes beyond EU requirements by criminalizing the creation of non-consensual intimate imagery or deepfakes, not just their distribution.
• Cyberstalking: The government plans to integrate the use of GPS trackers and similar tracking technologies into existing anti-stalking statutes.
• Legislative gaps: The government argues that existing laws against the distribution of pornography are sufficient to cover cases of unsolicited sexual imagery and harassment, resisting the creation of a new, distinct criminal offense.
• Hate speech: The directive mandates the criminalization of public incitement to gender-based violence; however, the current German draft lacks specific updates to include this category under hate speech laws.

Prevention, Support, and Data

• Support services: The Violence Assistance Act (Gewalthilfegesetz), passed in early 2025, guarantees a right to counseling for digital violence victims, though full implementation is not expected until 2032.
• Data collection: To address gaps in police crime statistics, the government introduced the 'LeSuBiA' survey to assess personal experiences with violence, though critics from the Left party argue the data remains too vague due to the conflation of different types of violence.