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Over 30 homes were raided in Germany this week for hateful postings over social media, which included threats, coercion, and incitement to racism. Social media users are already subject to a range of punishments for posting illegal material, but Justice Minister Heiko Maas is championing further laws that crack down on hate speech: these new statutes would force networks to offer a readily available complaint process for posts that may amount to threats, hate speech, defamation, or incitement to commit a crime, among other offences.
Social media outlets would have 24 hours to delete "obviously criminal content" and a week to decide on more ambiguous cases. According to a recent government study, Facebook deleted just 39 per cent of illegal hate speech within 24 hours in January and February, despite signing a code of conduct in 2015 pledging to meet this standard. Twitter deleted just 1 per cent. "We are disappointed by the results," Klaus Gorny, a Facebook spokesman, said in a statement this year regarding the study. "We have clear rules against hate speech and work hard to keep it off our platform."
Social media outlets would have 24 hours to delete "obviously criminal content" and a week to decide on more ambiguous cases. According to a recent government study, Facebook deleted just 39 per cent of illegal hate speech within 24 hours in January and February, despite signing a code of conduct in 2015 pledging to meet this standard. Twitter deleted just 1 per cent. "We are disappointed by the results," Klaus Gorny, a Facebook spokesman, said in a statement this year regarding the study. "We have clear rules against hate speech and work hard to keep it off our platform."