German-Chinese Symposium on Platform Crime
On 11 July 2023, a German-Chinese symposium on platform crime took place at the Faculty of Law in Würzburg.
As digitalisation progressed, various online platforms with a wide range of different services became established. Starting with so-called "bulletin board systems" and file-sharing platforms, "social networks" also gradually emerged. The best-known example today is Facebook, which was first made accessible to students at Harvard University in 2004. In addition to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, WhatsApp and WeChat are among the most widely used social networks in the world today.
It is not surprising that these platforms are now also the scene of a large number of criminal offences - and the trend is rising. After clarifying the criminal policy and historical genesis of platform crime, the German-Chinese symposium focussed on current challenges, provided information on regulatory projects and looked at provider liability from a criminal law perspective.
The speakers included Professor Dr Luís Greco, Professor Dr Dr Eric Hilgendorf, Professor Dr Su Jiang, Professor Dr Carsten Kusche, Professor Dr Dongyan Lao, Dr Liu Xinyi, Dr Tang Zhiwei, Professor Dr Brian Valerius and Professor Dr Huawei Wang.
8:40 - Opening
The event was opened by Debora Tydecks-Zhou from the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation and Prof Dr Dr Eric Hilgendorf.
9:00 - Panel I - Criminal policy development and historical genesis of platform offences
Prof Dr Dr Eric Hilgendorf introduced the topic. This was followed by a look at Chinese law on the criminal liability of internet service providers by Prof Dr Su Jiang from Peking University.
10:30 - Panel II - Current challenges of platform crime
Prof Dr Dongyan Lao from Tsinghua University began the panel on attribution limits for internet service providers. Prof Dr Huawei Wang from Peking University continued with challenges and answers to the regulation of platform crime. The panel was concluded by Prof Dr Carsten Kusche from the University of Mannheim with legal policy challenges of platform regulation from a German perspective.
14:00 - Panel III - Provider liability as a problem of criminal law General part
After the lunch break, Prof Dr Luís Greco (LL.M., Humboldt University of Berlin) began Panel III with an introductory presentation on provider liability under criminal law in the general section. Dr Zhiwei Tang from Jiaotong University Shanghai followed with the criminal liability of platform operators in the light of general criminal law doctrine.
15:30 - Panel IV - Provider liability as a problem of criminal law Special part
Dr Xinyi Liu (Tsinghua University) gave an introduction to the liability of internet service providers in Chinese criminal law, followed by Prof. Dr Brian Valerius from the University of Passau, who asked whether special criminal provisions are necessary for platform operators. Yiqiao Cheng (Tsinghua University/ Julius-Maximilians-University) dealt with the attribution of criminal liability to the internet service provider within the framework of § 286a ch. StGB.
