Germany Approves Plans To Fine Social Media Firms Up To $57M (theguardian.com)

Social media companies face fines of up to 50m Euro ($57m) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content from their sites under a new law passed in Germany. From a report: The German parliament on Friday approved the bill aimed at cracking down on hate speech, criminal material and fake news on social networks -- but critics warn it could have drastic consequences for free speech online. Germany has some of the world's toughest laws covering defamation, public incitement to commit crimes and threats of violence, with prison sentences for Holocaust denial or inciting hatred against minorities. The measure requires social media platforms to remove obviously illegal hate speech and other postings within 24 hours after receiving a notification or complaint, and to block other offensive content within seven days. The German justice minister, Heiko Maas, who was the driving force behind the bill, said: "Freedom of speech ends where the criminal law begins."

Comments

-isms

[harvey the nerd]

whatever -ism, Germany is having another bout of authoritarianism that could be more fatal than the last one.

Re:-isms

[ShanghaiBill]

whatever -ism, Germany is having another bout of authoritarianism

It never went away. The Germans have always prioritized conformity over liberty. But they pay a price for that. There is a bit of a startup-culture in Berlin, but Germany has produced few tech companies. The biggest is SAP, which actually has a rather authoritarian culture. If you were planning to start a tech company today, would you do it in Germany? $57 million says that you wouldn't.

Disclaimer: I live in Silicon Valley, and there are several German expats in my neighborhood. They are doing startups, but the aren't doing them in Germany.

Re:-isms

[AK Marc]

When was that? In WWII, the Germans didn't attack the US. Same as WWI. That the US attacked Germany and Germany fought back is quite different. For WWI, there were people calling for the US to enter the war on the side of the Germans. Had that happened, WWII would never have happened. Instead, the English racism in US won out, and we came to England's aid, not Germany's.