Berlin court backs Lilith Wittmann’s right to criticize MGA, but also finds unlawful access under Germany’s hacking law

A Berlin court has protected Lilith Wittmann’s right to criticize the Malta Gaming Authority, but the full judgment also upheld an injunction tied to unlawful access to protected data under § 202a StGB, Germany’s criminal provision on unauthorized access to specially protected information. For PSPs and compliance teams, the point is simple: a win on speech did not wipe out the court’s finding on access.

1. On 9 October 2026, Malta Media received the complete 24-page judgment from Berlin, dated 24 September 2026, issued by Landgericht Berlin II under case number 7 O 254/26 eV. The outlet says the full decision goes well beyond the single-page version Ms Wittmann shared with followers.
2. The court protected Ms Wittmann’s ability to describe the MGA as an enabler of organized crime, but that was only one part of the ruling. The judges also upheld an injunction based on the claim that she had accessed protected information without authorization.
3. On pages 10 and 11, the court expressly addressed § 202a of the German Criminal Code. The judges found that Ms Wittmann had obtained access to information not intended for her by overcoming the relevant protections, and concluded that the MGA was entitled to an injunction under German civil law on the basis of that infringement.
4. Malta Media says the judgment is more detailed than the version Ms Wittmann highlighted on LinkedIn. In its reading, the court did not merely say hacking “might have happened”; it made a finding tied to unlawful access to specially protected data.

For high-risk operators and their payment partners, the practical takeaway is the familiar one: courts can split speech issues from access issues. You can win the right to say something about a regulator and still lose on how the underlying material was obtained.