“German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said that the companies offering such
online platforms are responsible for removing hateful content. He said the
new bill would not restrict the freedom of expression, but intervene only
when criminal hatred or intentionally false news are posted.”
What is “criminal hatred”? Clearly what German authorities mean is not
just incitement to violence, but opposition to their suicidal policies
regarding Muslim migration: “the issue” of this online censorship “has come
to the fore amid the recent influx of migrants to Germany, which has sparked
a backlash among some Germans including a rise in online vitriol.” German
authorities apparently define “vitriol” as including any opposition to the
Muslim migrant influx, no matter how reasoned, and to their supine attitude
regarding jihad terror: Facebook and Twitter have already blocked 90% of their daily referrals
from Jihad Watch, and the site is blocked by many Internet service providers in the
UK and Europe. The government of Pakistan says
that Facebook is doing its bidding and removing content that violates Sharia
blasphemy laws.
The concept of “hate speech” is subjective. I don’t think that what I do
constitutes “hate speech,” but Leftist and Muslim groups insist that it does,
and they have all the power. “Hate speech” laws are tools in the hands of the
powerful to silence the powerless and quell their dissent. But the
increasingly authoritarian character of the political elites is in the final
analysis a sign of their desperation. They didn’t see Brexit or Trump coming.
They are rapidly moving to delegitimize and silence all those who dissent
from their globalist internationalist agenda. But our numbers are growing.
This ain’t over. And they will not succeed in silencing us.
“Germany approves bill curbing online hate crime, fake news,” by Kirsten
Grieshaber, Associated Press, April 5, 2017:
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new bill that
punishes social networking sites if they fail to swiftly remove illegal
content such as hate speech or defamatory fake news.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet agreed on rules that would impose fines
of up to 50 million euros (53.4 million dollars) on Facebook, Twitter and
other social media platforms.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said that the companies offering such
online platforms are responsible for removing hateful content. He said the
new bill would not restrict the freedom of expression, but intervene only
when criminal hatred or intentionally false news are posted.
Germany poses a particular problem for U.S.-owned social networking sites
accustomed to American standards of free speech. Due to its Nazi past,
Germany bans public Holocaust denial and any overt promotion of racism. The
issue has come to the fore amid the recent influx of migrants to Germany,
which has sparked a backlash among some Germans including a rise in online
vitriol.
Social networks need to ensure that obviously criminal content — as
defined by German law — will be deleted within 24 hours and other illegal
content after seven days.
“Just like on the streets, there is also no room for criminal incitement
on social networks,” Maas said.
“The internet affects the culture of debate and the atmosphere in our
society. Verbal radicalization is often a preliminary stage to physical
violence,” he added.
The minister pointed out that social networks don’t delete enough
punishable content, citing research that he said showed Twitter deletes just
1 percent of illegal content flagged by users, while Facebook deletes 39
percent.
Maas also said that measures to combat hate speech and so-called fake news
will ultimately have to be taken at the European level to be effective….
