Garmany: Politician 'censored' under new German hate speech after slamming the Cologne police for sending a New Year's tweet in Arabic.
AfD politician 'censored' under new German hate speech
law for anti-Muslim tweet
January 2, 2018
Beatrix von Storch, a leading figure in the Alternative
for Germany party, is one of the first hit by new hate speech laws on social
media. Critics say the legislation opens the way for censorship by internet
companies.
German MP under fire for anti-Muslim tweets – DW's
Michaela Küfner and Marina Strauss
A top lawmaker from the anti-immigration Alternative for
Germany (AfD) party was blocked from Twitter and Facebook on Monday after
slamming the Cologne police for sending a New Year's tweet in Arabic.
The incident caused the AfD to lash out further and
criticize censorship as a controversial new German social media law known as
NetzDG went into effect January 1 in a bid to clamp down on online hate speech.
The Cologne police tweeted New Year's greetings and
linked to information on celebrating safely in a series of messages in German
and other languages, including Arabic. Cologne was the scene two years ago of
mass sexual assaults on New Year's Eve in which most of the suspects were
described as young men of North African and Arab origin.
"What the hell is happening in this country? Why is
an official police site tweeting in Arabic? Do you think it is to appease the
barbaric, gang-raping hordes of Muslim men?" wrote Beatrix von Storch, the
deputy leader of the AfD's parliamentary group.
The tweet was later deleted after Twitter froze von
Storch's account and informed her she had violated hate speech rules. Her
account was shut down for 12 hours. The Cologne police said on Monday that they
had filed a criminal complaint against von Storch for hate speech.
The lawmaker then upped the ante, writing a sarcastic
post once her account was reopened. She also announced that her Facebook
account had been "censored" due to a hate speech complaint.
"Facebook has also censored me. That is the end of
the constitutional state," she wrote, showing the message she received
from the social media giant.
Due to the Cologne police criminal complaint, she wrote
that state prosecutors would have to investigate lifting her parliamentary
immunity, then indict her and go through a court process to finally convict
her.
"My knees are shaking," she wrote of such an
unlikely scenario. "But Facebook has already issued a judgment."
New year, controversial new law
The AfD has branded NetzDG as a "censorship
law." But they are not alone in criticizing a law that requires companies
like Facebook, Twitter, and Google to remove content that advocates violence or
slander or face fines of up to 50 million euros ($53 million).
Internet activists and journalist organizations have also
raised objections, not least because the government has deliberately left the
task of deleting content or blocking users to the internet platforms
themselves, rather than having courts make decisions.
The AfD appears to want to make the new social media law
a major issue by testing boundaries and provoking a response from social media
companies and law enforcement authorities.
AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel wrote on
Facebook and Twitter defending her party colleague and lamenting what she
called the "censorship law," while sharing the text of von Storch's
deleted tweet and repeating her complaints, while referring to "migrant
mobs" instead of Muslim men specifically.
Cologne police later said on Tuesday that they had
received criminal complaints against Weidel.
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