Social media companies face fines of up to €50 million if they persistently fail to remove illegal content from their sites under a new law passed in Germany. The German parliament on June 30 approved the bill aimed at cracking down on hate speech, criminal material and fake news on social networks. But critics warn it could have drastic consequences for free speech online.
Germany has some of the world’s toughest laws covering defamation, public incitement to commit crimes and threats of violence, with prison sentences for Holocaust denial or inciting hatred against minorities.
The new measure requires social media platforms to remove obviously illegal hate speech and other postings within 24 hours after receiving a notification or complaint, and to block other offensive content within seven days. Fines would only be imposed if a company systematically refuses to remove offensive content. Email and messaging service providers are not included in the law.
The German justice minister, Heiko Maas, who was the driving force behind the bill, said: “Freedom of speech ends where the criminal law begins.” Maas said official figures showed the number of hate crimes in Germany increased by more than 300% in the last two years.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter have become a battleground for angry debates about Germany’s recent influx of more than 1 million refugees.
Aside from the hefty fine for companies, the law also provides for fines of up to €5 million for the person each company designates to deal with the complaints procedure if it doesn’t meet requirements. Social networks also have to publish a report every six months detailing how many complaints they received and how they dealt with them.
While Jewish organizations praised the new law, human rights experts and the companies affected say that the law risks privatizing the process of censorship and could have a chilling effect on free speech.
Facebook said in a statement: “This law as it stands now will not improve efforts to tackle this important societal problem. The company is hiring 3,000 additional staff on top of 4,500 already working to review posts.
Free speech is a fundamental right. Censoring it in some cases jeopardizes it in all cases, including for those who teach the Bible’s end-time truths, which will be eventually considered to be hate speech. Constitutional rights in the last days are being repudiated in the name of fighting terrorism. See Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 451. While this statement refers to the United States, it is clear that it will happen in other countries as well.