Joachim Steinhöfel

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Joachim Steinhöfel

Joachim Nikolaus Steinhöfel (born July 26, 1962 in Hamburg ) is a German lawyer who became known through prominent proceedings and as a publicist , advertising figure and moderator .

Live and act

The son of a VW - manager and the SPD -Politikerin Elke Steinhöfel grew up in Bremen on. He completed his law studies at the University of Hamburg .

Legal activity

Steinhöfel has been running his own law firm in Hamburg since 1989, focusing on competition and media law . His clients include Jörg Baberowski , Henryk M. Broder , Matthias Matussek , Akif Pirinçci , Benjamin Weinthal and Achmad Mansour . He has brought more than two hundred proceedings before the Federal Court of Justice .

In 1995, by means of the torpedo lawsuit, which was still uncommon at the time , he gave TopWare the opportunity to sell his telephone directory CD for four weeks despite a foreseeable ban. Steinhöfel served as a testimonial on the covers of the Topware CDs. In 1998 he sparked debates about domain law when he sued a number of domains with the D- component to protect the exclusivity of the brand spelling for D-Info-Verlag , which was part of Topware, and obtained a court ruling against Deutschlandradio, among others , so that it gives up the address d-radio.de . A judgment that was won by Steinhöfel's lawsuit in the area of link liability also sparked discussions. The tenor of the judgment at that time was confirmed in a later decision by the Federal Court of Justice. In June 2020, Steinhöfel represented the federal executive committee of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) before the Berlin regional court against Andreas Kalbitz , who had sued against the cancellation of his party membership.

Media Markt

From 1991 to 2007 he worked as a lawyer for the consumer electronics stores Media Markt and Saturn operated by the Media-Saturn-Holding (see controversies for the end ). In addition, he appeared in five of the company's advertising campaigns from 1998 onwards, as the company was looking for someone who was “combative, original, credible” and exuded “rare authenticity”. In 1999, Steinhöfel won the EFFIE silver advertising prize with the “It's good that we compared” campaign . The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ruled in 2006 about the "rowdy advertising figure", Steinhöfel prefers to give "the big puke" and portrays himself in magazines as a "pit bull in robe" - "where I reach no more grass grows".

Facebook and social media

Steinhöfel has been operating a website since 2016 on which deletions from the Facebook social network are documented, which has also attracted international attention.

In 2017, Steinhöfel represented the photographer and blogger Markus Hibbeler in a legal dispute with Facebook that deleted a post critical of Islam by Hibbeler and banned the author for seven days. After a warning from Steinhöfel, Facebook restored the text and apologized. Steinhöfel had hoped that this legal dispute would have a political impact on the Network Enforcement Act, which was being debated at the time , in order to create “a handle against blocking or deletion of legitimate statements”. Steinhöfel described their absence in the draft law as a serious defect.

In November 2017, Steinhöfel managed to immediately unblock the blocked Twitter user account of the Islam-critical political scientist Hamed Abdel-Samad .

In spring 2018, Steinhöfel won the first court ruling in Germany that prohibited the deletion of a user post on Facebook. With his motions he also hopes that the jurisprudence will become a corrective to the controversial Network Enforcement Act, which uses fuzzy terms such as “hate” instead of specific offenses from the criminal code such as defamation . Steinhöfel is considered to be one of the "main characters in the debate about freedom of expression online". By mid-2019, Steinhöfel had represented 30 clients in proceedings against Facebook.

In February 2019, Steinhöfel managed to get the State Minister in the Foreign Ministry Niels Annen to unblock a reporter from the Jerusalem Post on Twitter . The reporter had previously reported critically about Annen.

Steinhöfel was heard as an expert before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Bundestag in May 2019. Steinhöfel described it as an "act of democratic, parliamentary and legislative hygiene to repeal the NetzDG". In July 2019, Steinhöfel had Facebook's claims for remuneration from advertising placed against the coalition parties CDU and SPD seized and transferred because Facebook had not reimbursed the court costs in two cases despite lost proceedings. According to the FAZ, Steinhöfel “not only demonstrated Facebook, but also grabbed the government parties by the nose ring”.

At the end of May 2020, Joachim Steinhöfel represented the magazine “ Tichys Insight ” before the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court in a lawsuit against the “ Correctiv ” research group. As reported by the FAZ , the court ruled in its ruling on May 27, 2020 by urgent decision that “Correctiv” on behalf of Facebook was not allowed to stamp a post by “Tichys Insight” with the stamp “partly wrong” for reasons of competition law. “Tichys Insight” reported on an open letter on climate change and shared the article on Facebook. "Correctiv" subjected this publication to an examination and provided the report with the comment "allegations partly false". The Mannheim Regional Court initially considered this to be permissible. However, the OLG revised this judgment. a. because the test entry is "misleading" for the average Facebook user. With the judgment, Steinhöfel said, “the court set clear limits” and “strengthened the freedom of expression also in the social networks”: “According to this judgment, the question of what is true, false, right or incorrect should also be the political one on Facebook Discourse remains. ”Steinhöfel, who had already announced a competition law action against the fact checks in the Legal Committee of the German Bundestag in 2019, described the practice of Correctiv as an encroachment on freedom of expression and information disguised as a“ fact check ”. This representation contradicts the press release published by the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court on the judgment. There the court points out that the judgment did not decide on the fundamental admissibility and that the misunderstanding lay in particular in the fact that the user could get the impression that the contribution had been examined and not the open letter dealt with therein.

On June 17, 2020, Steinhöfel was heard as an expert in the Bundestag Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid on the subject of "Human rights and political participation in the digital age". According to the report of the committee, he pointed out "the great importance of freedom of expression 'as a fundamental right which constitutes the free basic order and criticized any restriction, for example by the Network Enforcement Act, as an unconstitutional interference".

Publicist and moderator

During his studies, Steinhöfel was a permanent freelancer for Radio Schleswig-Holstein . At the same time he wrote for the music magazines Sounds and Musikexpress . In addition to his work as a lawyer, he also moderated television programs. These included Kreuzfeuer (summer / autumn 1993) and 18 30 (mid-1994, 85 broadcasts) on RTL and the tabloid magazine Die Redaktion on RTL II (December 1994 to September 1995). While Eighteen 30 was canceled due to poor audience ratings, Steinhöfel gave up his job for Die Redaktion due to overwork. The publicist Hans Norbert Janowski described Steinhöfel, Dieter Thomas Heck and Karl Dall as some of the first representatives of a moderating "anti-type" in Germany, in which the "trend towards provocateur and public abuse, towards unsympathetic monster and villain" is evident.

Steinhöfel has been running its own weblog since October 2007 with the motto "Liberal - Conservative - Independent". He has also been a regular author for the political blog Dieachse des Guten since 2008 , guest author for stern , The European and, since 2015, for the online magazine Tichys Insight .

Movie

In 2001 Steinhöfel took part in the comedy Mondscheintarif by Ralf Huettner . In the tragic comedy Kill Me Today, Tomorrow I'm Sick! Steinhöfel is in the role of Dr. See Chris Zoet .

Controversy

At the end of 2006, the large number of warnings was criticized with which Media-Saturn-Holding stores across Germany acted with "sophistication" against competing online retailers. In this context, Steinhöfel's “hunt for medium-sized companies” was also criticized in the 1990s. Competing companies had been legally prosecuted for illegally large discounts with the help of Steinhöfel. As the new managing director of Media-Saturn-Holding, Roland Weise relied on a different, less aggressive strategy towards the competition from 2007, which is why Steinhöfel and Media-Saturn-Holding ended their cooperation by mutual agreement.

Steinhöfel's remarks on the refugee crisis in Germany from 2015 onwards were taken up critically. In October 2015 , editors of the Westfalen-Blatt Steinhöfels used accusations of a cover-up of an alleged rape (with ultimately unclear facts) to conduct a regular “rumor check” on the subject. In July 2016, the picture blog picked up a text from Steinhöfel on the refugee crisis, which it regarded as an example of “unclean reporting on refugees” with which people like Steinhöfel “want to spread populist theses into the world and who are not particularly interested in whether a report is made True or not, as long as they have a source that fits their own position. ”A statement from Steinhöfel was published as an addendum. In 2017, Steinhöfel was described in Spiegel magazine as "one of the most eloquent critics of Merkel's refugee policy in social networks".

In May 2017, Jost Müller-Neuhof wrote in Tagesspiegel that Steinhöfel was “willingly” taking on the “role of the right pariah in the left mainstream”. In September 2017, Steinhöfel conducted a short video interview with Christian Lindner (FDP), which primarily dealt with the further procedure against the Network Enforcement Act. Lindner came under criticism as a result. Annett Meiritz wrote on Spiegel Online in September 2017 that Steinhöfel was moving - among other things with a celebratory speech for Junge Freiheit - "in the haze" of the right spectrum. According to the Huffington Post of September 2017, Steinhöfel maintains "relationships with the new right-wing scene in Germany".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Katrin Wilkens: Rüpel out of passion. In: Die Zeit , May 16, 2007.
  2. ↑ See " In a win for 'Post' reporter, diplomat forced to remove Twitter block " , The Jerusalem Post , Feb. 27, 2019, as well as " After Twitter blockade: Israeli journalist sued SPD State Minister Niels Annen " , meedia. de, March 1, 2019
  3. ↑ See SONJA ÁLVAREZ: "Late Night Show" - Mattussek also loses against Krömer before the Higher Regional Court. In: Tagesspiegel . August 16, 2013, accessed May 21, 2020 . Moritz Dickentmann: Interview with lawyer: Why are you defending Akif Pirinçci, Mr. Steinhöfel? In: Stern . November 4, 2015, accessed May 8, 2019 . The Pirinçci case - now it hits celebrities. In: tichyseinblick.de. November 14, 2015, accessed March 18, 2019 . ; Petra Schwegler: Asshole affair: Matussek doesn't want it to have been. In: wuv.de. November 18, 2015, accessed May 8, 2019 . Eckhard Stengel: Controversial historian Jörg Baberowski: HU professor can be accused of “falsifying history”. In: tagesspiegel.de . November 12, 2017, accessed May 8, 2019 . Felix Disselhoff: After Twitter blockade: Israeli journalist sued SPD Minister of State Niels Annen. In: Meedia . March 1, 2019, accessed May 8, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Kathrin Spoerr : Hate on the Internet: When can Facebook block its users - and when not? In: welt.de . June 23, 2019, accessed July 22, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b Jonas Hermann: Barking for the Right. In: NZZ Folio . June 6, 2018, accessed December 14, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Christine Schmehl: Parallel proceedings and the granting of justice: For the coordination of proceedings under European and German civil procedure law using the example of tactical “torpedo actions” . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2011, p. 214 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ Ottmar Roehrig: Great treasure trove. In: Die Zeit , July 28, 1995; Detlef Borchers : The trick with the number. In: Die Zeit , June 24, 1999.
  8. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Roth : Internet, law and rip-off. Legal pitfalls in private, professional and small business online use . Rainer Bloch, Weinheim 2007 ( limited preview in the Google book search). District Court Hamburg: Judgment with the business number: 312 O 85/98 of May 12, 1998 ( Memento of April 27, 1999 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Judgment of the 1st Civil Senate of June 18, 2015 - I ZR 74/14. In: juris.bundesgerichtshof.de. June 18, 2015, accessed February 3, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Andreas Kalbitz remains in the AfD for the time being. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 19, 2020.
  11. ^ A b Georg Meck: Media-Markt: "The biggest mess of the year". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , November 5, 2006.
  12. ↑ Stefan Winterbauer: “Persistent PR-Gau” - lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel denounces Facebook deletions with “Wall of Shame”. In: meedia.de. August 22, 2016, accessed December 3, 2018 .
  13. ^ Website “Facebook lock. Wall of Shame ” .
  14. ^ Jan Bruck: The lawyer who takes on Facebook over free speech. In: bbc.com. September 15, 2017, accessed December 3, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Hendrik Wieduwilt: Lawyer: Facebook should show the deleted post again. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 28, 2017; Hendrik Wieduwilt: Following a letter from a lawyer, Facebook reverses the deletion. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 29, 2017; Patrick Evans: Will Germany's new law kill free speech online? In: BBC News , September 18, 2017 (English).
  16. ↑ Jörn Schumacher: Twitter account of the Islamic critic Abdel Samad blocked - and released again. In: Pro-Medienmagazin , November 3, 2017; Islam critic Abdel-Samad: "Islamists are protected, but critics are banned". In: Welt Online , November 3, 2017.
  17. ↑ Facebook is not allowed to delete user posts. In: FAZ.net . April 12, 2018, accessed December 3, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Christof Kerkmann, Johannes Steger: German court forbids Facebook to delete a comment for the first time. In: handelsblatt.com . April 12, 2018, accessed December 3, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Peter Mühlbauer: Temporary injunction: Facebook may neither delete nor block legal comments. April 12, 2018, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  20. ↑ In a win for 'Post' reporter, diplomat forced to remove Twitter block. In: jpost.com. February 27, 2019, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Philipp Bovermann: Locked out on Twitter , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung of February 28, 2019.
  22. ↑ Legal Committee: Experts for improvements to the NetzDG. In: beck-current. May 16, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Stefan Krempl: NetzDG in the Bundestag between "surrender of the rule of law" and "milestone" - heise online. In: heise.de. May 16, 2019, accessed May 17, 2019 . The wording can be found in the censorship law: Steinhöfel in the hearing of the Bundestag on the NetzDG. In: Tichy's insight . May 18, 2019, accessed May 20, 2019 . Source of text: German Bundestag, transcript of the 52nd meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection on May 15, 2019, p. 145; Steinhöfels recorded statements made to the committee from p. 15 ff
  24. ↑ Hendrik Wieduwilt: Attachment of parties. In: FAZ.net . July 23, 2019, accessed July 24, 2019 .
  25. ↑ a b c Cf. “ Tichy wins against“ Correctiv ”in court ” , FAZ.net, May 27, 2020; see also “ Fact check on Facebook must be deleted ” , DIE WELT , May 27, 2020
  26. ↑ Cf. press release of the Higher Regional Court Karlsruhe " Presentation of a fact check on Facebook must not be misleading " from May 27, 2020
  27. ↑ See German Bundestag, verbatim transcript of the 52nd meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection on May 15, 2019, p. 21 right column
  28. ↑ OLG Karlsruhe: Presentation of a fact check on Facebook must not be misleading. In: Press release of the OLG Karlsruhe. May 27, 2020, accessed June 5, 2019 .
  29. ^ Report of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid on the meeting on June 17, 2020
  30. ↑ a b Heiner Uber: I'm not stupid ... In: GQ - Gentlemen's Quarterly . September 2000 ( steinhoefel.de ).
  31. ↑ Overworked yuppie. In: Der Spiegel , February 6, 1995.
  32. ↑ Hans Norbert Janowski: Charisma? The role of the person in the media. In: Jürg Häusermann (Ed.): Staged Charisma: Media and Personality (= media in research and teaching. Series A. Volume 50). Niemeyer, Tübingen 2001, pp. 45–54, here p. 49.
  33. ^ Profile and contributions by Joachim Steinhöfel at the Axis of the Good.
  34. ↑ Examples: Causa Böhmermann: Merkel's embarrassing antics. In: Stern . April 19, 2016, accessed December 4, 2018 . and hate comments: hate speech on Facebook: The Justice Minister overwhelmed. In: Stern . April 12, 2016, accessed December 4, 2018 . .
  35. ↑ See Steinhöfel's contributions to The European.
  36. ↑ Daniel Lange : What Xing says about Tichy's insights. In: Advertise & Sell , February 26, 2016.
  37. ↑ Kill Me Today, Tomorrow I'm Sick! in the Internet Movie Database (English); Anja Blum: With humor to the zenith. In: Sueddeutsche.de , September 7, 2018.
  38. ↑ Retail: Media-Saturn Group is looking for a different image. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 9, 2007; Oliver Haustein-Teßmer: Media Markt and lawyer Steinhöfel split up. In: Die Welt , June 11, 2007.
  39. ↑ Herford police receive hate mail. In: Neue Westfälische , October 29, 2015 (PDF).
  40. ↑ Two of 40 rumors were true - the Westfalen-Blatt checks “refugee rumors”. In: Meedia , December 4, 2015.
  41. ↑ Moritz Tschermak: “The European” warms up the “sex mob alarm”. In: Bildblog , July 26, 2016.
  42. ↑ a b Markus Feldenkirchen: FDP top candidate: The talented Mr. Lindner. In: Spiegel Online . September 17, 2017, accessed December 5, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Jost Müller-Neuhof: Agitation on the Net: How a lawyer on Facebook wants to enforce freedom of expression. In: Der Tagesspiegel , May 29, 2017.
  44. ↑ Five questions to Christian Lindner (FDP) , Interview by Joachim Steinhöfel with Christian Lindner, YouTube video in the version published by the interviewer , September 8, 2017.
  45. ↑ Joachim Steinhöfel: Five questions to Christian Lindner from the FDP. In: The axis of the good . September 8, 2017, accessed December 6, 2018 .
  46. ↑ Christian Lindner is the target of ridicule. In: freiewelt.net. November 16, 2017, accessed December 6, 2018 .
  47. ↑ Breaking taboos in politics: The electoral campaign without borders. In: Spiegel Online , September 16, 2017.
  48. ↑ Jürgen Klöckner, Benjamin Reuter: Allegation of right-wing populism: A selfie by Christian Lindner raises questions. In: The Huffington Post , September 10, 2017. (Archive)
personal data
SURNAME Steinhöfel, Joachim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steinhöfel, Joachim Nikolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, radio and television presenter
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg