Facebook must ban abusive content, says German Justice Minister Maas
Facebook must ban abusive content, says German Justice
Minister Maas
Heiko Maas wants Facebook to better enforce its community
standards to rein in abusive users. Given the recent rise in anti-migrant and
xenophobic posts, he has called for a meeting with Facebook's European
managers.
By Nicole Goebel Date 27.08.2015
In an open letter seen by German daily
"Tagesspiegel," which he links to on his Twitter account, Maas tells
Facebook that "we need to talk."
Follow
Heiko Maas ✔ @HeikoMaas
Liebes Team von @facebook, wir müssen mal reden.
#hatespeech
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/medien/brief-von-heiko-maas-an-facebook-minister-haelt-gemeinschaftsstandards-fuer-unzureichend/12238614.html
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8:25 PM - 26 Aug 2015
In the letter, which he sent to Facebook's European head
office in Dublin as well as to its German subsidiary, he says the social media
site's community standards needed to be more efficient and transparent.
In the wake of the recent openly xenophobic and hateful
attacks on and protests at refugee camps in Germany, Maas said that the Justice
Ministry had received many complaints about abusive content not being banned on
Facebook.
Often, users get a message saying that the posts they
reported did not violate Facebook's community standards without giving any
further explanation "even in very obvious cases," according to Maas.
He says this standard response had become a
"farce" and that users were struggling to understand why Facebook is
quick to ban nudity, for example, referring to its community standards, but
often fails to ban xenophobic and racist posts.
The implementation of its community standards, Maas says
in his letter, "can apparently not be relied on, even though many posts
contain comments that constitute the criminal offense of incitement to
hatred."
He reminds Facebook that it is legally obliged to delete
illegal posts.
Maas emphasizes that his demands do not go against
freedom of speech. "But the Internet is not a lawless space where racist
abuse and illegal posts can be allowed to flourish."
He stressed that there can be no "misunderstood
tolerance," and that Facebook urgently needed to enforce its existing
rules and assess whether further measures are needed.
In recent months, Germany has seen tens of thousands of
refugees and migrants arrive at its borders, with many communities struggling
to provide adequate care and shelter.
There have been persistent protests and attacks from
far-right groups, often coordinated on sites such as Facebook. The attacks drew
widespread criticism from polticians, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
calling the incidents "despicable and shameful."
In reponse to Maas' letter, a spokeswoman for Facebook
said they were taking the justice minister's position seriously, but did not
confirm that they would meet with him.
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