The Internet in Germany is about to get quite a bit cleaner, as the German government reached an agreement with Facebook, Google, and Twitter to have the three behemoths take down hate speech within 24 hours, reports Reuters.
Advertisement
On Tuesday, Facebook, Twitter and Google committed to removing “illegal content promptly, that is, within 24 hours”, said Maas.
Reports of the rise in racist and anti-foreigner comments on German social networks have been coming in over the past few months, while the country is dealing with an influx of migrants and refugees.
Any complaints received will undergo an examination by the special teams of the three companies, which will be deciding whether the content of the alleged hate speech violates the terms of use for each website and the laws of Germany, which bans speech that instigates or incites harmful action.
According to a statement released by police in the northern German city, the group wearing black clothes and hoods carried out the attack, the Guardian reported. The prosecution spokesperson stated that Facebook Managing Director, Martin Ott, could be held responsible for the social media’s failure to remove the hate speech. The company at that time said, “the allegations lack merit and there has been no violation of German law by Facebook or its employees”.
Facebook has a partnership with a group called FSM, which monitors multimedia service providers on a voluntary basis, and has said it would encourage its users to push back against racism. The attackers smashed glass at the entrance to the building, threw paint, and sprayed “Facebook dislike” on a wall.
Advertisement
But critics immediately charged that Maas had failed to achieve what he set out to do when announced the creation of a joint “taskforce” to fight hate speech online.
