The German Parliament has passed the "Network Enforcement Act" or "NetzDG":
The German Parliament passed a new social media law1, called the "Network Enforcement Act" ("NetzDG" in German), that punishes social media companies with fines ranging from 5 million to 50 million euro if they don't immediately remove "obviously illegal" content. Human rights groups have called the law rushed and harmful to free expression.
According to the German Federal Criminal Police Office, hate crime has grown by 300% in the past two years alone. In a speech1 today, Germany's Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection, Heiko Maas, said that freedom of expression is a great asset to have in an open society, but it ends where criminal law begins.
[...] At a recent hearing, of the 10 experts who were invited to testify, eight criticized the law that was still in draft stage at the time. Five of them said the law would be incompatible with the German Constitution. The Network Enforcement Act was slightly modified since then and, for instance, the mention of companies having to implement automatic content filters has been removed. However, a new "self-regulatory" body will have to be created, whose operation costs will be paid by the private industry. The companies will be able to send some content for evaluation if they are uncertain of its legality. It's not clear how transparent or accountable this body will be, according to the European Digital Rights (EDRi) non-profit organization.
A recent post on ProPublica has shown that Facebook's own censorship policies are inconsistent at best. For instance, the company would censor hate speech against white people, but not against certain Muslim groups that were considered radicalized by Facebook's low-paid contractors. It's also not the first time Facebook's inconsistent censorship rules have attracted the public's attention, whether it was about old and popular war pictures or blocking competitors' links.
1 Linked page is in German. --Ed.
Previously:
Germany Raids Homes of 36 People Accused of Hateful Postings Over Social Media
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @02:02AM (2 children)
This has already happened! Merkel is Hitler (well more like Stalin, since she was a communist in East Germany). She wants to genocide a particular group of people: the Germans, and possibly ALL OTHER WHITE PEOPLE. It is retarded, but that's that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @05:01AM (1 child)
I hope World War 3 goes nuclear.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday July 02 2017, @05:56AM
I think that is what everybody on this planet fears. It *will* go nuclear.
After which, life as we knew it will be changed drastically, as the factories which used to make all our stuff no longer exist.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]