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Migrant crisis: Facebook backs German anti-racism drive

In Germany, Facebook already removes any speech that denies the Holocaust existed – and now they are moving toward hate speech against the refugees.

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The company will collaborate with ministry of justice of Germany, internet service providers, as well as other social networks to create a task force intended for eliminating hateful stuff more rapidly, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

With Germany facing a record influx of refugees and a backlash from the far right, social media like Facebook have seen an upsurge of hateful, xenophobic commentary.

Such experts include representatives from “Great Britain and the Nordics”, as Facebook believes that these countries “have great expertise on counter speech [and can] support organizations in Germany to even better use the platform for their initiatives and to enable them to fight against racism and xenophobia with the most possible impact”.

Opposition Greens party co-chief Katrin Goering-Eckardt a number of days in the past learn out in a YouTube clip a litany of verbal assaults that had been posted on her Facebook web page, and urged the corporate to “lastly be sure that such hatred and filth” is deleted. Facebook did not confirm how it plans to handle racism and hate speech on the platform.

Users also accuse the company of double standards for cracking down swifter and harder on nudity and sexual content than on hate-mongering. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called on Facebook to take action against efforts to incite hate towards refugees and foreigners. The arrival of large numbers of immigrants has given rise to protests across Germany.

Most of the German 27 million Facebook users acted in a very decent manner, said Eva-Maria Kirschsieper of Facebook Germany. FB and other internet firms frequently remove stuff that break local hate speech rules, however European governments have asked social networks to adopt a more proactive approach in response to increasing xenophobic activities and terrorist propaganda.

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During the meeting on Monday, Facebook executives argued they should not be responsible for removing posts that are not prohibited by either German law or Facebook’s own policies.

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