Germany is taking on Facebook, threatening criminal action against the world’s biggest social media company if it doesn’t stem the swelling tide of racist postings. Entries such as “gas the Jews” are examples of the repugnant postings that have appeared online, said Piotr Malachowski, spokesman for the German Ministry of Justice.
“What you are seeing on Facebook is not just racist comment, it is a violation of Germany’s criminal code,” he said. “Facebook can be held criminally liable for users’ illegal hate speech.”
German law prohibits speech that denies the Holocaust, disparages minorities, or insults public figures. Malachowski said the government asked Facebook two years ago to do a better job of filtering hate postings. Germany is now demanding a meaningful response by early this year, or it will take legal action against the social media giant that has 1.8 billion users worldwide.
Germany also is asking Google and Twitter to rein in objectionable posts.
Facebook denies claims that it is not taking down expressions of hate quickly enough. It has hired a German technology company to monitor and delete content that is illegal in Germany and other European countries. Six hundred people, fluent in several languages, scan the site daily.
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