The law of live streaming: a systematic literature review and analysis of german legal framework

Abstract

With evolved streaming technologies and faster mobile broadband, more and more live streaming platforms emerge online and become very popular among the users. From general platforms for streaming everyday life (e.g., YouNow) or reporting on news events (e.g., Periscope), through platforms for streaming video games (e.g., Twitch) or certain artistic performances (e.g., Picarto), the range of the services became very wide. As in most social media domains and with new developments on the digital market, the question arises whether the new trends also bear new challenges and issues of legal or ethical nature. This study is a systematic literature review of international scientific research on live streaming and potential legal problems (N = 22) conducted in order to pursue this question. It also entails a short review of legal issues with live streaming in Germany, a country with relatively strict consumer laws (e.g., data privacy) as well as first laws aiming at getting better control over the social media companies and users (e.g., Network Enforcement Act). The most prevalent legal domain within research on live streaming are copyright and sports broadcasting laws. The still understudied areas appear to be privacy, personality rights, and youth protection regulations. The most prominent issue within German legal discourse is the classification of live streaming as a telemedia offer or a broadcast, the second one entailing more restrictions and requirements (e.g., a broadcasting license).