Publication of Transparency Report 2025 on addressing terrorist content online
Year of issue 2026
Date of issue 2026.03.31
The Bundesnetzagentur has today published its Transparency and Monitoring Report for 2025 on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online in Germany. The Bundeskriminalamt has also published its Transparency Report on the application of the European Terrorist Content Online Regulation on its website.
Removal orders
In 2025 the Bundeskriminalamt ordered the removal of terrorist content online by hosting service providers in 245 cases, compared with 482 in 2024. The decrease in the number of cases is due to the fact that an increasing amount of terrorist content online was already removed following a removal request, or referral, from the Bundeskriminalamt, which is usually sent to a hosting service provider before a removal order is issued.
A total of 28 removal orders were transmitted to German hosting service providers from authorities in other countries. This was 17 more than in the previous year.
If a hosting service provider does not comply with an order to remove terrorist content online, or not within the period specified by law, the Bundesnetzagentur may initiate administrative fine proceedings. In none of the cases last year was this necessary.
Specific measures
Where companies are exposed to terrorist content online, they are required to put specific measures in place to effectively prevent the dissemination of the content. The Bundesnetzagentur checks whether these measures are appropriate and effective. In 2025 a total of 10,562 items of content were removed by German hosting service providers as a result of such measures. In the same period, 42 complaints were received from users against the removal of their content. In seven cases the content was reinstated.
Terrorist Content Online Regulation
The European Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online entered into force on 7 June 2021. It aims to contribute to public security in the European Union and prevent hosting services from being misused for terrorist purposes. In Germany, the Bundeskriminalamt and the Bundesnetzagentur enforce the provisions on the basis of the German Terrorist Content Online Act (TerrOIBG).
The reports are available on the respective websites: Bundesnetzagentur’s report www.bundesnetzagentur.de/tco-en (English), Bundeskriminalamt’s report www.bka.de/ (German).