Posted on 06/09/2017 5:12:56 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A proposed German law designed to heavily penalize social media firms for “hate speech” will scare Facebook and other social media giants into suppressing content that is legal, argues Nick Wallace.
German laws criminalizing hate speech and defamation are already some of the most restrictive in Europe. But a new bill going through the Bundestag, intended to combat hate speech, will create powerful incentives for online platforms to suppress content that is not even illegal, and inhibit the development of data-driven tools that offer more sophisticated ways of fighting extremism. The proposed law, backed by the governing CDU/CSU/SPD grand coalition, would impose fines of €50 million (a hundredfold increase on the earlier proposal of €500,000) on Internet platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google, if they do not remove offending posts within 24 hours of users having flagged them.
This bill threatens algorithmic methods for combating hate speech — and for preserving free speech — by making their use legally and financially too risky. Online platforms already have content guidelines for their human moderators, which include requirements to block access to content in jurisdictions where it is clearly illegal. […]
These risks are not unique to Germany. The Council of the European Union recently backed proposals for a directive that would require all EU member states to force online platforms to promptly remove videos containing hate speech. In Britain too, Conservative politicians have talked about introducing similar regulations. …
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.de ...
Combat hate speech = Control free speech
That’s fine, just time for all the social media outlets to get out of Germany.
So this could hurt Facebook and Google? So this isn’t all bad.
The EU is getting ready for a globalist socialist state. Things like free speech threaten that state. This is just step one.
The ultimate end game of the twisted powers that be is to perpetuate perversion and Islam.
It will likely depend on who you are and your tone of voice.
Remember that this is the country whose Chancellor American Leftists were claiming to be the new "leader of the free world" recently.
>>Will it be illegal to read the Koran online in Germany?<<
No.
It will be REQUIRED! AND you have to post approving comments.
The Germans will never change. They love being micromanaged.
Germans are rather bovine in nature. They want to live in a herd.
txrefugee, Let me hear you say “Mooo.” Germans may be bovine in nature but this is a worldwide campiagn. The internet must be silenced. Any mention of a crime by a “refugee” or “minority” must be banned as hate speech. Simply reporting a fact is hateful. The establishment media has been very successful at this and the internet is a floater in their punchbowl. Even pointing this fact out is an act of hate.
Freedom is in the process of dying in Germany yet again.
Perhaps it is time that the destruction of German totalitarianism left unfinished in 1945 was completed.
In the U.S., when spoken about the “protected”, TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.