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In a coordinated campaign across 14 states, the German police on Tuesday raided the homes of 36 people accused of hateful postings over social media, including threats, coercion and incitement to racism.
Most of the raids concerned politically motivated right-wing incitement, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office, whose officers conducted home searches and interrogations. But the raids also targeted two people accused of left-wing extremist content, as well as one person accused of making threats or harassment based on someone's sexual orientation.
"The still high incidence of punishable hate posting shows a need for police action," Holger Münch, president of the Federal Criminal Police Office, said in a statement. "Our free society must not allow a climate of fear, threat, criminal violence and violence either on the street or on the internet."
The raids come as Germans are debating the draft of a new social media law aimed at cracking down on hate speech, a measure that an array of experts said was unconstitutional at a parliamentary hearing on Monday.
The measure, championed by Justice Minister Heiko Maas for passage this month, would fine Facebook, Twitter and other outlets up to $53 million (50 million euros) if they failed to remove hate speech and other forms of illegal content.
The left ladies and gentlemen.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 25 2017, @11:53PM (4 children)
The irony of bitching about this on a post that is ostentatiously about free speech....
Free speech means just that. If you draw a line somewhere then you can move that line around to please whatever political whim you want.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @12:24AM (2 children)
Col. Kurz: "You don't approve of my methods?"
Capt. Willard: "Frankly, Sir, I don't see any method"
Prepare for Apocaylpse Now analogy:
AC: "And you want to censor the free speech right to keep posting "n****" posts?
Me: "Frankly, I do not see any speech. I see flies. Flies that are born in shit, grow out of shit, and basically have nothing constructive to contribute to a conversation because they are just shit. I mean, what can you say to shit? For that matter, what is there really to say about shit? Where is Miyamoto Musashi when you need him?" (The reference is to "Samurai" [imdb.com] (1954) where Musash asks the rabble to keep the noise down, and they all come up the stairs to beat him up, 'cause, you know, violence and racist alt-right! 白右! Musashi, eating his lunch, remarks that they are "too many flies", and grabs one out of the air with his chopsticks. The rabble all retreat. )
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @02:45AM (1 child)
Perhaps. I still see it as hypocrisy. Saying some speech is 'ok' and other is 'not allowed'. When you draw a line you will find yourself on the wrong side of that line at some point. People in power do not give one fuck about your line. What you say can and will be used against you. Count on it. Freedom of speech was put in our bill of rights for a reason. The lawyers who wrote it down saw how the gov fucked over thousands every day because they said the 'wrong thing'. They were fairly harmless and just angry. Instead if you making underground they become ensconced in their values. Count on it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @08:16AM
Shit.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday June 26 2017, @11:21PM
So it's OK to shout "FIRE!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" in a crowded theatre?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.