Germany Approves Bill Banning Alternative Media For Good
Germany has approved a new bill giving them the power to erase alternative media websites from the internet by forcing social media sites to ban them.
Germany’s Cabinet approved a bill on Wednesday that will see social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter face fines of up to $53 million dollars if they fail to remove content deemed “unacceptable” by Angela Merkel’s team.
German Justice Minister Heiko Mass says the harsh new laws are part of an effort by the German government to tackle “fake news” and “hate speech” online.
Yahoo News reports:
Germany poses a particular problem for U.S.-owned social networking sites accustomed to American standards of free speech. Due to its Nazi past, Germany bans public Holocaust denial and any overt promotion of racism.
The issue has come to the fore amid the recent influx of migrants to Germany, which has sparked a backlash among some Germans including a rise in online vitriol.
Social networks need to ensure that obviously criminal content — as defined by German law — will be deleted within 24 hours and other illegal content after seven days.
“Just like on the streets, there is also no room for criminal incitement on social networks,” Maas said.
“The internet affects the culture of debate and the atmosphere in our society. Verbal radicalization is often a preliminary stage to physical violence,” he added.
The minister pointed out that social networks don’t delete enough punishable content, citing research that he said showed Twitter deletes just 1 percent of illegal content flagged by users, while Facebook deletes 39 percent.
Maas also said that measures to combat hate speech and so-called fake news will ultimately have to be taken at the European level to be effective.
The bill still needs parliamentary approval.
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