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.

Comments

Germany has way more problems than Facebook

[Anonymous Coward]

All the influx of refugee's from Syria is causing a rebellion of the German people. Repressing it won't solve it.

Re:Germany has way more problems than Facebook

[aliquis]

Except the refugees ARE the problem.

Here in Sweden we haven't got enough taxation to cover spending of the government or the municipalities right now and even then it's about 44% of GDP.
An immigrant family with two children can receive $3000 / month AFTER TAXES with no work whatsoever.

How many such families do you think it's ok to bring into Sweden?

Germany grant more welfare than the US and Sweden grant more than Germany. That's why they come here. Too leech. Within the last day or two I heard about a teacher who had got his teeth punched out because the teacher was talking to a woman who was his wife. That's what you get with Muslims. Everyone else is no problem culturally but Muslims are and will be because their vile hate-ideology doesn't want them to adjust or accept our ways.

Mexicans into the US would if not completely at-least to a higher degree be work immigration whereas our immigration are refugee/sponge immigration and Muslim colonization. The Mexicans unlikely will destroy the culture of the US I guess (vote democrats?), the Muslims will definitely destroy our culture.

You can't compare the two.

Also the number of refugees who came to Sweden was like 35 times as many / capita as to the US so yeah.. there's a volume difference. But the US system have a stronger freedom and democracy and robustness / conservatism in the system and have lower welfare and likely don't even open up for the trash we get here. Your system is better suited for it and you still don't bring in even close to as many.
(Also US and allies like Saudi-Arabia and Turkey is what support the rebels and religious extremism in Syria and Iraq and it's the US who got rid of Gadaffi and Hussein and want to get rid of Assad too. You're part of the reason the genuine refugees even exist.)

Re: Germany has way more problems than Facebook

[Anonymous Coward]

Smart people IGNORE the speech they do not like. Snowflakes try to force others into silence ----.