George Bonea

X is challenging a decision from a judge in the Berlin Regional Court that egregiously undermines our fundamental right to due process and threatens the privacy rights and free speech of our users.  Two organizations, Democracy Reporting International and Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte, have brought proceedings against X to get unrestricted access to X’s real-time data about all user posts on the platform for a supposed research project in advance of the German election.  Without giving X any opportunity to respond or comment on the suit, and notwithstanding that the application lacked crucial information, a court has ordered X to provide the organizations with unrestricted access to this data, in flagrant violation of our constitutionally guaranteed right to be heard. That alone is reason enough for the decision to be set aside. Worse, however, it also transpires that the sole judge in this case previously worked for Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte, the organization funding the research project, and alongside the lawyers (still employed by Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte) who are representing the applicants. The judge’s failure to recuse himself or, at the very least, to disclose these significant links raises serious concerns about the impartiality of the decision. X believes this ruling violates fundamental rights to due process that are guaranteed by the German Constitution. X is committed to defending these rights through the legal system and will not back down in the face of injustice.