Germany plans to fine social media sites up to $50 million over hate speech
Germany plans to fine social media sites over hate speech
Tue Mar 14, 2017 | 11:14am EDT
Germany plans a new law calling for social networks like
Facebook (FB.O) to remove slanderous or threatening online postings quickly or
face fines of up to 50 million euros ($53 mln).
"This (draft law) sets out binding standards for the
way operators of social networks deal with complaints and obliges them to
delete criminal content," Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement
announcing the planned legislation on Tuesday.
Failure to comply could see a social media company fined
up to 50 million euros, and the company's chief representative in Germany fined
up to 5 million euros.
Germany already has some of the world's toughest hate
speech laws covering defamation, slander, public incitement to commit crimes
and threats of violence, backed up by prison sentences for Holocaust denial or
inciting hatred against minorities. It now aims to update these rules for the
social media age.
The issue has taken on more urgency amid concern about
the spread of fake news and racist content on social media, which often targets
more than 1 million migrants who arrived in Germany in the last two years, as
well as members of the Jewish community.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany welcomed the new
law.
"We do not want an internet police or thought
control," the council's president, Josef Schuster, said. "But when
hatred is stoked, and the legal norms in our democracy threaten to lose their
relevance, then we need to intervene."
In late 2015, Germany pressed Facebook, Twitter and
Google's YouTube to sign up to a code of conduct, which included a pledge to
delete hate speech from their websites within 24 hours.
The draft rules would turn the code of conduct into legal
obligations to delete or remove illegal content, to report regularly on the
volume of filed complaints and they also demand that sites make it easier for
users to complain about offensive content.
RUSH TO RESPOND
A survey by the justice ministry's youth protection
agency, released on Tuesday, found that YouTube was able to remove around 90
percent of illegal postings within a week, while Facebook deleted or blocked
just 39 percent of content deemed criminal under the law and Twitter only 1
percent.
Social networks have raced to improve technology and user
feedback on their sites to detect and remove abusive content.
"The draft law has only just been announced and we
are analyzing the details now," a YouTube spokesman said in a statement.
"We will continue to improve our systems to ensure that illegal hate
speech is dealt with quickly."
Twitter declined to comment on the proposed law.
It has responded in recent months with automated tools to
identify profiles engaging in abusive behavior, new filtering options to screen
out anonymous profiles or to block offensive content, and by responding
directly to user complaints.
Facebook was not immediately available to comment on the
draft law, elements of which had been signaled previously.
In January, Facebook announced a partnership with German
third-party fact-checking organization Correctiv, promising to update its social
media platforms in Germany "within weeks" to reduce the dissemination
of fake news (reut.rs/2lWDufg).
Maas and other members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's
ruling coalition have called for social networks to be held to higher content
standards demanded of media broadcasters instead of hands-off rules applied to
telecom operators.
Among Germany's political establishment, there is concern
that fake news and racist content on social media could influence public
opinion in this year's election campaign. The government, however, would have
to move very quickly if it wants to get the law passed before campaigning for
the September election begins.
(Reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann and Edward Taylor;
Writing by Madeline Chambers and Eric Auchard Editing by Jane Merriman and
Susan Fenton)
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