German Federal Court refers Künast fake-quote case against Meta to EU court

The referral to Luxembourg

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe has referred a long-running dispute between Green politician Renate Künast and Meta to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling. The case centres on a meme shared on Facebook that pairs a photo of Künast with a sentence she says she never used, claiming that integration begins when a German learns Turkish. The text-and-image combination was published and shared on Facebook in several variants. At a hearing on Tuesday, 27 October, the BGH said it doubted whether earlier CJEU rulings could be applied to the case. It has suspended proceedings until Luxembourg issues its decision.

How the dispute began

Künast has been fighting the spread of the fake quote since 2015 and filed her lawsuit against Meta in 2021. She seeks an injunction and at least 10,000 euros in compensation for the violation of her personality rights. Meta removed the original post after the first complaint, but altered versions kept circulating on the platform. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court had largely ruled for Künast, and in 2024 it confirmed the injunction but rejected a claim for damages. Künast now wants Facebook to delete all near-identical versions without her having to point Meta to each individual location.

Meta's defence and Künast's reply

Meta describes itself as a neutral hosting provider. It argues that it must only remove content that has been explicitly reported and has no obligation to proactively search for similar posts. Künast rejected that position at the hearing in Karlsruhe. She said she could not do the monitoring herself, and that a private person cannot hire 30 people to search worldwide for posts with the same meaning.

“That is simply and plainly the job of the company.”

Questions sent to Luxembourg

The BGH wants the CJEU to clarify whether Meta is fully responsible under data protection law set by the GDPR. It also asks whether the liability exemptions of the E-Commerce Directive apply to the company. The BGH first heard the case in February 2025 but chose to wait for a CJEU decision on a similar matter. That ruling, issued in late 2025, found that operators of online marketplaces are responsible for personal data in ads on their sites and must check listings with sensitive data before publication. The BGH now doubts whether that ruling and others can be transferred to the Künast case.

Who is Renate Künast and what comes next

Künast sat in the Bundestag for the Greens from 2002 to 2025. She served as agriculture minister from 2001 to 2005 and led the party's parliamentary group from 2005 to 2013, and she briefly co-chaired the party. At the hearing she described the case as a little like David against Goliath. The final outcome is expected to take shape only after the CJEU delivers its preliminary assessment, and no date for that decision has been set in the reporting.