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

[Anonymous Coward]

It never went away. The Germans have always prioritized conformity over liberty. But they pay a price for that.

The 'price' they pay is social harmony... what a bummer.

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.

Is this a joke? Are you back to smoking crack SanghaiBill?

Successful tech was Germany's thing for the whole second half of the 20th century.

If you were planning to start a tech company today, would you do it in Germany? $57 million says that you wouldn't.

Billions of dollars say you do. In Berlin.

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.

There are many more successful startups in Germany now than there are in silicon valley. Disclaimer: I live in silicon valley.

Re: -isms

[Anonymous Coward]

As a European citizen I'm all for conformity. We need more of it, not less. Everyone must think the same and heterodoxy must be punished. If absolute conformity had been strictly enforced since the founding of the EU, we wouldn't have Brexit and euroskeptics would be where they belong: in prison.

Re: -isms

[Anonymous Coward]

So... political speech is alright so long as the politics are approved by the state, and unapproved opinions are to be censored by criminalizing their communication?

I see a pattern repeating here, and not a good one.

I get that logic

[slashmydots]

If someone takes a chalk marker and draws something anti-Semitic on a window, you must go after the window manufacturer!

I'm hoping

[Dunbal]

Did they clearly define what exactly comprises "hate speech", or is it just generally anything someone complains about (unless you're a white christian male of course)?

Re:I'm hoping

[quax]

The party in power was elected through the democratic process, and the party in power decided what had to be banned. The party democratically elected by the german people was removed from power in 1945 by a foreign invader.

BS. The Nazi's did not have a majority in the parliament. Hindenburg made Hitler chancellor, thinking he could be controlled. Instead the Nazis dismantled the parliament. And made sure it never reopened after the convenient Reichstag fire.

Many Germans gave the Nazis their vote as a protest vote against the established elite (that included my grandfather), not realizing that this was to be their last vote.

Until his death my grandfather was mad as hell that Hitler tricked the country into another war. After the experience of WW1 there was absolutely no appetite for yet another war. His oft repeated lament was that he only talked about peace until he had his dictatorship firmly entrenched.

Re:Yes you do. Seriously.

[ChromeAeonium]

Both your and OP's analogies fail to consider the vast scale. Maybe a better analogy would be to say you have millions of windows popping up everyday. Some may have wrongthink on them. You are expected to know where and when the wrongthink will occur on a window, or else you are also guilty of thought crime by virtue of ignorance.

Somehow, this is considered something other than madness, despite not just the inherent immorality and hypocrisy of censorship, but also the sheer impracticality of the matter. I sure as shit don't see Germany stepping up to propose how social media filters for latent thought crime.

Either way, the US may have a flaming dumpster full of faults, but I'm at least glad we have the Second Amendment.

immigrants

[Bender Unit 22]

You can't mention that perhaps not all the immigrants flooding into Europe are refugees.
Also you can not disagree with the Swedens politicians when they say to the people that their country are no longer theirs and they must learn how to integrate themselves into these new cultures.
Or when the politicians say that their own country has no culture worth mentioning and needs some new and better ones.

Poland seems to be the only one standing up for their own culture.