Germany to Fine Social Media Companies up to $57M for Hate Speech

Megalith

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Social media companies in Germany will face fines of up to 50M euros ($57.1M) if they fail to remove "obviously illegal" content in time. Facebook, YouTube, and other sites with more than two million users must take down posts containing hate speech or other criminal material within 24 hours. This law is the toughest of its kind in the world and will go into effect in October after the German federal elections.

[Justice Minister Heiko] Maas, who oversaw the legislation, told the German parliament that online hate crimes had increased by almost 300% in the past few years, adding that "no one should be above the law". The bill was drafted after several high-profile incidents of fake news and criminal hate speech being spread on social media sites in Germany. One case involved the targeting of prominent Green MP Renate Kunast, with a post that falsely suggested she was sympathetic to a refugee who had murdered a German student in the southern city of Freiburg.
 
While they're at it. How about they fine cities in Germany for hateful speech graffiti that doesn't disappear after 24 hours? I've seen more swatstikas in this country than anywhere else in the world.
 
If this hate speech is really so bad why not lock someone up, such as the people actually committing the "hate speech"? Facebook/Google/etc do some shady stuff and are far from innocent but this is really going after the wrong people (even if you think free/hate speech should be stopped)

Or could it be that this is just a cynical cash grab preying on SJW nonsense?
 
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I wonder what “hate speech” means this week, and what it will mean next week?

Dangerous times that we are all on the verge of having forced upon us.

^^^ BINGO!

There is free speech or not. You have the right to be offended. "Hate speech & hate crimes" are a step in the wrong direction. The liberals jump over each other to be the next protected class/victim.

I gotta admit though, watching the BLM retards interrupt a gay pride parade is pretty darn funny.
 
Imagine if they could have blacklisted Hitler and his gang back in back in the 1930s.

Speaking of which (not Steimy, Heinie, Heinrich, and Hemlock), do you think they categorize sites like HardOCP as social?
 
If this hate speech is really so bad why not lock someone up, such as the people actually committing the "hate speech"? Facebook/Google/etc do some shady stuff and are far from innocent but this is really going after the wrong people (even if you think free/hate speech should be stopped)

Or could it be that this is just a cynical cash grab preying on SJW nonsense?

They want to stomp on the globalization of free speech, especially as it affects them. They can't lockup someone in the United States for saying, "Most of the German parliament are Nazi's.", or, "Angela Merkel is a poor impersonation of herself in drag." They can work to suppress such speech from being heard by enacting laws restricting companies from allowing such content being displayed in their country.

It doesn't stop a German citizen from using a VPN or spoofed address to access banned content from a portal in another country. However, those same laws can make it harder for users to do so because companies will tighten restrictions on use of such techniques as lawmakers throw veiled and not so veiled threats of fines/jail at the hosting companies and their local management for allowing such access.

Germany could go a long way toward protecting its innocent and seemingly ignorant "population" (you know you aren't) by erecting a wall and cutting off access to the outside world rather than having to confront the issue through education, open discussion and twisted legal practices.

Personally, it seems like it's just a larger grab at trying to bury their storied and evil past...as if ANYONE will ever let them forget...and further pacify and control their population.
 
When all these idiots in Government who have no grasp on reality finally retire and die of old age....

....maybe it will get better?

Maybe.
 
When all these idiots in Government who have no grasp on reality finally retire and die of old age....

....maybe it will get better?

Maybe.

No likely. The current political brown-nosers will just take over and it will continue and only get worse.

Would not be surprised if we see a V for Vendetta type uprising in the next few years.
 
What's next? Thought Crime? Hello 1984.
Hate Crime *is* Thought Crime. "Hate" is a type of thought/emotion. Committing a crime because you hate someone is somehow worse than if you committed it without actually hating them. If punishment can change based on how you feel about something, then Thought Crime is already here.
 
While they're at it. How about they fine cities in Germany for hateful speech graffiti that doesn't disappear after 24 hours? I've seen more swatstikas in this country than anywhere else in the world.
might have something to do with the fact that theres so much rampant censorship.
 
Cash grab for Germany.

"We define you as wrong, give us money."
 
No likely. The current political brown-nosers will just take over and it will continue and only get worse.

Would not be surprised if we see a V for Vendetta type uprising in the next few years.


When does the "purge" happen?
 
If I was in charge of a company like Facebook or any any other company affected by this bullshit, I'd just cut off access to my site from Germany. Not worth the trouble of kowtowing to a bunch of authoritarian nutjobs and risking massive fines. Maybe when people can't tweet or Snapchat or whatever goofy shit the kids are doing these days, they'll stop voting for the government to enforce their morality on others.
 
This type of censorship is the direction that Europe is headed and yet the a large number of US citizens think we should model the country after these types of laws and policies. All this measn is alot of these" posts " will just go underground and they will hold secret rallies and become cults. This world is going to hell in a hand basket FAST.
 
If this hate speech is really so bad why not lock someone up, such as the people actually committing the "hate speech"? Facebook/Google/etc do some shady stuff and are far from innocent but this is really going after the wrong people (even if you think free/hate speech should be stopped)

Or could it be that this is just a cynical cash grab preying on SJW nonsense?
They are. If they happen to be in germany. Thought crime is already a thing.

And no, that's not a good thing. Hate speech shouldn't be stopped by censorship. It must be stopped trough proper education and fixing the problems that causes the hate in the first place. Hate speech is never an action. It's a re-action.
 
I hate so and so because I used a naughty word to describe people that do things I dont find morally sophisticated.
Those "goofy" easterners eat dogs. Oops. I am going to be fined.
 
Hate Crime *is* Thought Crime. "Hate" is a type of thought/emotion. Committing a crime because you hate someone is somehow worse than if you committed it without actually hating them. If punishment can change based on how you feel about something, then Thought Crime is already here.

This is part of the problem. If I kill you because you are black, jewish, gay, etc., how is it really different than if I just kill you just because I wanted your shoes? Murder is murder imho. As Stimpy88 already mentioned, who defines what a hate crime is? That becomes too easily abused that anyone who disagrees with the party in power now is guilty of a hate crime.
 
I'd feel a lot more comfortable if, instead of fining social websites or arresting people for "hate speech", they'd just choose one night and go around and smash all their storefronts, windows, and burn and loot a little. Let them know they're not welcome and they should go elsewhere.

Oh. They did that already, didn't they?

http://www.history.com/topics/kristallnacht
 
When all these idiots in Government who have no grasp on reality finally retire and die of old age....
....maybe it will get better?
Maybe.
The millions of immigrant populations' 2nd and 3rd generations that idolize their muslim heritage will have to answer that for you. Although germany can't even keep count of how many actually came.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immig...ugee.2C_asylum_and_illegal_immigration_crisis
The original prediction of about 450,000 asylum seekers for 2015 in Germany is corrected to potentially over 800,000 people, which is almost double the number of the previous prediction for this year and four times the amount of the prior year.[49] In a letter written by the Germany Vice-Chancellor of Germany to his fellow party members, the number of 800.000 potential refugees was raised again, now up to over 1,000,000 refugees for Germany
 
If this hate speech is really so bad why not lock someone up, such as the people actually committing the "hate speech"? Facebook/Google/etc do some shady stuff and are far from innocent but this is really going after the wrong people (even if you think free/hate speech should be stopped)

Or could it be that this is just a cynical cash grab preying on SJW nonsense?
Already been happening.

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/07/13/police-raids-germany-net-posts/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/...ed-of-hateful-postings-over-social-media.html
 
When does the "purge" happen?

Completely different things.. but "He'll bring them death and they will love him for it" comes to mind.

People are all kinds of crazy. The longer the public "education".. cough... brainwashing system is around, the dumber and more insane people become.
 
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You want google and facebook to police the internet for you? I guess it's only a matter of time until facebook and google get there own cyber police brigade, the consequences will never be the same.
 
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