Sersheim – The REspect reporting center! will end the nationwide processing of reports of suspected illegal online content at the end of 2026. Since 2017, around 116,000 reports have been received, of which the office forwarded a good 29,000 to law enforcement authorities. The Baden-Württemberg Youth Foundation justifies its withdrawal with the considerable need for resources and the ongoing controversy surrounding reporting activities. At the same time, there is growing fundamental criticism of private reporting structures that pre-sort statements and receive preferential access to platforms via trusted flagger status. Hesse has therefore already significantly dismantled a comparable structure.
The REspect! reporting center operates between citizens, platforms, and the state
REspect! is neither the police nor the public prosecutor’s office, nor is it a court. Nevertheless, its staff reviewed reported statements and decided which cases to forward to authorities or platforms. This created a private intermediary layer preceding formal legal proceedings. While decisions regarding criminal law remained with the competent authorities, the very act of selecting which cases to forward gave the reporting center significant influence.
Image: Johanna Wohlgemut, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
This legal framework is particularly delicate when it comes to offenses involving speech. While criminal threats or incitement to hatred must be prosecuted, the Basic Law also protects sharp and provocative expressions of opinion. Precisely where the line is drawn often only becomes clear after legal scrutiny. Consequently, a private organization undertakes a complex preliminary assessment, even though it is not a state investigative authority itself.
“Trusted Flagger” status boosts the influence of private reporters
In 2024, REspect! gained a prominent position by becoming the first German-based “Trusted Flagger.” Under the Digital Services Act, platforms are required to prioritize reports from such organizations. Although the REspect! reporting center could not order the removal of content itself, its reports were granted statutory priority over standard user reports.
Figures from 2025 demonstrate the practical relevance of this status. REspect! reported 1,576 items of content via the Trusted Flagger procedure; platforms subsequently removed or restricted 1,268 of them. While the platform operators made the final decisions, the initial selection process significantly influenced which content was prioritized for review. It is precisely for this reason that the role of private yet privileged reporters is increasingly becoming the focus of debate.
Hesse warns of a “climate of denunciation”
Criticism from the state of Hesse has become particularly pronounced. The state government has significantly scaled back its former reporting center, “Hessen gegen Hetze” (Hesse Against Hate Speech). Interior Minister Roman Poseck cited the duplication of structures with the police and public prosecutor’s office as a reason. He also explicitly warned against a “climate of denunciation” and “excessive activity,” noting that, recently, around 93 percent of the reports had no discernible connection to Hesse.
Consequently, a key criticism is now emerging from within the state system itself. Police and public prosecutors can be reached digitally via online portals, while platforms are required to provide their own statutory reporting mechanisms. Additional private reporting bodies must therefore justify what added value regarding the rule of law their preliminary review actually offers. The model becomes particularly problematic when private selection decisions coincide with state funding and regulatory privileges.
Reporting body REspect! responds to ongoing debate
The youth foundation itself cites an enormous need for resources and discussions that distracted from the core focus of its work. Although the project is set to receive around 424,500 euros from the federal program “Demokratie leben!” (Living Democracy!) for 2026, financial cuts do not explain the withdrawal. Instead, the foundation is stepping away from the very area that has been particularly controversial in political and legal terms in recent years.
From 2027 onwards, REspect! plans to place greater emphasis on media literacy, artificial intelligence, and disinformation. At the same time, the Federal Network Agency is examining the implications of ending reporting activities for the project’s “trusted flagger” status. Naturally, this does not mean that illegal content will disappear from the web; the responsibility for prosecuting such content remains with platforms, the police, public prosecutors, and the courts. The closure of the reporting portal therefore primarily marks a withdrawal from a controversial, additional oversight structure positioned between citizens and the state.
Author: Blackout News
Sources: Manova (14.08.26) – Bietigheimer Zeitung (08.08.26)