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Germany Threatens To Fine Facebook Over Hate Speech (go.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: German officials are stepping up their criticism of Facebook, saying the social network is doing too little to stop hate speech and could face stiff fines unless it deletes illegal content faster. In an interview published Friday, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said his ministry was checking whether it would be possible to make social networking sites legally liable for illegal posts. Germany has seen a sharp increase in vitriolic posts on social media in recent years amid a heated public debate over the influx of more than a million migrants since the start of 2015. The country has laws against speech deemed to be racist, defamatory or inciting violence -- a response to Germany's Nazi legacy. But authorities have struggled with the deluge of often anonymous postings on foreign-owned websites. Thomas Oppermann, a senior lawmaker in Maas' Social Democratic Party, told German weekly Der Spiegel that dominant social media sites like Facebook could be required to delete illegal posts within 24 hours or face fines up to 500,000 euros ($522,000). Facebook also could be compelled to distribute corrections that reach the same number of people as the original post, Oppermann suggested, something traditional media companies in Germany are already required to do.
With the rampant sexual harassment that was reported last New Year's Eve in Köln, I'm not sure if they're the Mexicans or pussy-grabbing Trump.
That said, does the US have problems with Mexicans that are religiously motivated to kill everyone that thinks differently from themselves?
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Although tragic crimes, there are plenty other likewise crimes that get committed, but since those are not done by refugee scapegoats the media coverage is way lower. I do not belittle what happened in Köln by any means, but overall refugees are not more criminal than established residents in Germany. As far as data is available, refugees as a group are even less criminal.
The crimes committed in Köln were also not out of religious motivation, but more so due to cultural differences. The offenders grew up in a society that considers women second class objects, a view often echoed by the leaders of the incoming federal government.
As far as the Mexicans are concerned, legal or not, they do the jobs that US residents would not do, especially not for that low income. The comparison made is valid, Mexicans are blamed by the incoming top brass and their claqueurs for stealing US jobs, but without the help of Mexican migrant workers many industries would suffer or even collapse. Not only that, the Mexicans come for harvesting jobs to Southern California, but not for coal mining or steel working in Pennsylvania. Yet, these abstruse and hateful views continue to be distributed by - let's call them uninformed - people. If Facebook considers itself indeed a social platform the company has a responsibility for society, and that includes setting clear guidelines and removing content that violates the rules. That applies especially in those countries such as Germany where reasonable restrictions to free speech are more clearly defined.