Feb 26, 2020, 14:48 pm
(This post was last modified: Feb 27, 2020, 15:25 pm by Resurgence. Edited 2 times in total.)
The German Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill that would require major social media platforms to report hate speech to the police.
Under the current legislation, the 2018 Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), platforms such as Facebook are obliged to remove illegal content within 24 hours, otherwise they would be faced with fines up to 50 million Euros.
The draft law would extend the NetzDG and link the “reporting requirement” in the draft law to the current regulations. This would require social media platforms to delete illegal material and flag content to the Office of the Federal Criminal Police (BKA). Offenses would extend to threats of murder, incitement of terrorist attacks, child pornography and any extremist propaganda.
Transparency reports disclosed by social media sites have given a strong indication of the reach that the draft law could affect. For example, following the first half of 2019, the draft law would have covered 35,000 videos from YouTube.
Germany, complying with European law, would be required to balance freedom of expression and speech with protection from harm online under the European Convention on Human Rights, with fear that platforms may over compensate when eliminating criminal content to avoid fines. However, authorities claim that tougher steps in eradicating extremist behavior makes the draft law necessary to reduce hate speech online.
The bill must now be approved by the German parliament.
It was cunning of them to couple hate speech legislation with threats of murder, terrorism, child pornography and extremist propaganda.
The government wanted the German public to draw negative comparisons in their minds whenever hate speech is mentioned.
Of course, everyone knows who they are attempting to silence with this legislation - anyone who calls out Israel for its myriad criminal activities and nationalists / the far-right. The German establishment is scared to death about the growth of AfD and nationalism in general.
To establishment, status quo governments, any speech that questions their "authority" is hate speech. Any expression that calls them out for their corruption and criminality is hate speech or terrorism.
In the light of such legislation, perhaps German citizens should reflect upon this fact:
Average tax rate for German citizens: 49.4%
German citizens, do you still feel that your government speaks for you and acts in your best interests?
https://www.jurist.org/news/2020/02/germ...thorities/
Under the current legislation, the 2018 Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), platforms such as Facebook are obliged to remove illegal content within 24 hours, otherwise they would be faced with fines up to 50 million Euros.
The draft law would extend the NetzDG and link the “reporting requirement” in the draft law to the current regulations. This would require social media platforms to delete illegal material and flag content to the Office of the Federal Criminal Police (BKA). Offenses would extend to threats of murder, incitement of terrorist attacks, child pornography and any extremist propaganda.
Transparency reports disclosed by social media sites have given a strong indication of the reach that the draft law could affect. For example, following the first half of 2019, the draft law would have covered 35,000 videos from YouTube.
Germany, complying with European law, would be required to balance freedom of expression and speech with protection from harm online under the European Convention on Human Rights, with fear that platforms may over compensate when eliminating criminal content to avoid fines. However, authorities claim that tougher steps in eradicating extremist behavior makes the draft law necessary to reduce hate speech online.
The bill must now be approved by the German parliament.
It was cunning of them to couple hate speech legislation with threats of murder, terrorism, child pornography and extremist propaganda.
The government wanted the German public to draw negative comparisons in their minds whenever hate speech is mentioned.
Of course, everyone knows who they are attempting to silence with this legislation - anyone who calls out Israel for its myriad criminal activities and nationalists / the far-right. The German establishment is scared to death about the growth of AfD and nationalism in general.
To establishment, status quo governments, any speech that questions their "authority" is hate speech. Any expression that calls them out for their corruption and criminality is hate speech or terrorism.
In the light of such legislation, perhaps German citizens should reflect upon this fact:
Average tax rate for German citizens: 49.4%
German citizens, do you still feel that your government speaks for you and acts in your best interests?
https://www.jurist.org/news/2020/02/germ...thorities/