Germany passes law against online hate speech today

[Ringo Starr]

By FRANK JORDANS, ASSOCIATED PRESS BERLIN — Jun 30, 2017, 5:42 AM ET

German lawmakers approved a bill on Friday aimed at cracking down on hate speech on social networks, which critics say could have drastic consequences for free speech online.

The measure approved is designed to enforce the country's existing limits on speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial. Among other things, it would fine social networking sites up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content within a week, including defamatory "fake news."

"Freedom of speech ends where the criminal law begins," said Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who was the driving force behind the bill.

Maas said official figures showed the number of hate crimes in Germany increased by over 300 percent 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, with authorities struggling to keep up with the flood of criminal complaints.

Maas claimed that 14 months of discussion with major social media companies had made no significant progress. Last week, lawmakers from his Social Democratic Party and Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Union bloc agreed a number of amendments to give companies more time to check whether posts that are flagged to them are illegal, delegate the vetting process to a third party and ensure that users whose comments are removed can appeal the decision.

But human rights experts and the companies affected warn that the law risks privatizing the process of censorship and could have a chilling effect on free speech.

"This law as it stands now will not improve efforts to tackle this important societal problem," Facebook said in a statement.

"We feel that the lack of scrutiny and consultation do not do justice to the importance of the subject. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure safety for the people on our platform," the company said, noting that it is hiring 3,000 additional staff on top of 4,500 already working to review posts.

Aside from the hefty fine for companies, the law also provides for fines of up to 5 million euros 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.

Among those cheering the law was Germany's main Jewish organization, which called it a "strong instrument against hate speech in social networks."

Germany has long had a law criminalizing Holocaust denial — a response to the country's Nazi-era history of allowing racist ideas to become genocidal policy.

"Jews are exposed to anti-Semitic hatred in social networks on a daily basis," the Central Council of Jews said. "Since all voluntary agreements with platform operators produced almost no result, this law is the logical consequence to effectively limit hate speech."

The nationalist Alternative for Germany party, which has frequently been accused of whipping up sentiments against immigrants and minorities, said it is considering challenging the law in Germany's highest court.

Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-parliament-debates-online-hate-speech-law-48368036

[DharmaSpace]

I think it is good that more countries are protecting freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech, must be responsible it cannot just be however people feel like it, inflammatory and abusive speech I don't think it serves any purpose and is only a waste of time.

The Germans certainly have the experience how a powerful negative speech can change peace loving people to the German soldiers that attacked and destroyed cities and people across much of Western Europe.

It is only fair that people have responsible speech.

[Matibhadra]

The Germans certainly have the experience how a powerful negative speech can change peace loving people to the German soldiers that attacked and destroyed cities and people across much of Western Europe.

You are just parroting standard anti-German hate speech.

The most damaged cities across Western Europe during the World War II were those attacked by the British and the Americans, not those attacked by the Germans.

Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Darmstadt, Kassel, Pforzheim, and so many others were razed to the ground, and their civilian population mass exterminated. Meanwhile, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, the capital cities of the aggressor states, were left essentially intact. London and Rotterdam were bombed, but nothing to compare with the mass destruction inflicted against German cities and people by US and UK.

And, of course, beyond Western Europe, the US murdering hatred did continue with the destruction of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Osaka, and even after the war with the carpet bombing of Buddhist countries and systematic mass murdering of Buddhist peoples, as in Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodja.

More recently, US state terrorism against the rest of humanity continued with the wholesale bombings of Yugoslavia, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Lybia, Afghanistan, and so forth, killing, maiming and displacing millions of innocent civilians.

Fortunately countries such as China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are able to defend themselves, and therefore the cowardly US state terrorists do not dare attacking them.

People like to see monsters in others, so as better to hide the monster inside themselves.

[dsnowlion]

This is wonderful news. I hope it becomes a norm so that people will take responsibility for what they say. Actually, any form of hate speech ought to be banned! Not Dorje Shugden! Hate speech does nothing but creates more disharmony, chaos, violence and bloodshed.

Social Media and the internet has been used as a tool to disperse hate speech is not right, especially when we can use social media to even encourage people to kill someone. Read this about Twitter and how they use the internet to create evil...  http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/21/technology/twitter-bans-terrorism-accounts/index.html

Twitter first announced efforts to combat extremism in 2015 and doubled down on those efforts last year, announcing in February 2016 several initiatives including partnering with outside organizations, training its policy team and attending government-sponsored summits.
In total, Twitter has suspended 636,248 accounts for extremism between August 2015 and December 2016.

I hope all countries implement this because it is not nice to be slandered and defamed for no reason, what more it can cause someone's life.

[Matibhadra]

Now you see the German Chancellor Merkel's puppet-master, the Abrahamic terrorist financier George Soros, and German Abrahamic-owned mass media such as Die Welt, Bild, and Business Insider, all of them actively supporting the massive and uncontrolled entrance in Germany (and Europe) of millions of so-called Muslim “refugees”, so many of whom known terrorists, perpetrating horrendous mass murders and mass rapes in Germany and throughout Europe on an almost daily basis, and only denounced by the common people in social networks... and suddenly a law is passed forbidding what?

Forbidding criticism of both Abrahamic and Islamic terrorism in social networks, of course!

This doomed attempt at suppressing people's voice through social networks, and to make one percenters' corporate fake news the only voice to be heard is a clear sign of the growing despair of Western unscrupulous despots who realize they will not be able forever to mass deceive Western peoples into thinking that the tyrant is not naked, or that Western brutal dictatorial regimes are “democracies”.

[AshRao]

I think this is fantastic! It shows just how forward thinking Germany is. And the whole reason they are doing something like this and are strict about it is because of their country's past. It is good to see how not wanting to repeat their history or have such sentiments within their borders has led to them being so progressive, open, tolerant and accepting. This is what people all around the world need. Online hate and abuse has become rampant. It has become one of the uglier aspects of our global society. And this has an affect on every part of our lives, including religion. We see many people call Dorje Shugden practitioners derogatory names, label them as demon/spirit worshipers, and degrade us to know end. It is good to know that the German government are taking steps to curb such behaviour online to create a more civil, tolerant and accepting society.

[Rowntree]

This is a long awaited and very necessary to protect genuine people on social media platform. Facebook, Twitter, and Google have been very bad in responding to complaints and to take action on anything. This law can further make sure they will take necessary actions to prevent misguiding information from being spread unnecessary all over the internet. Many companies and work were badly damaged because these three big social media network platforms allow them. I am looking forward to a safe and clean social media environment very soon.

[Matibhadra]

The naiveté of those supporting the abhorrent German law is limitless.

Indeed, under the guise of “fighting” hate speech, such law is only protecting the mass media's monopoly of hate speech while framing legitimate, non-violent dissent as “hate speech”.

While Shugdenpas are themselves victims of hate speech, some of them are like beaten dogs, all too willing to show appreciation and subservience to the very system victimizing them.

[Ringo Starr]

Indeed, under the guise of “fighting” hate speech, such law is only protecting the mass media's monopoly of hate speech while framing legitimate, non-violent dissent as “hate speech”.

Have you heard of the internet?

[michaela]

I think it is wonderful that Germany came up with with a law against hate speech. I do respect freedom of speech very much, but some people are using "freedom of speech" to vent their anger on other people.  I think the law would be reasonable and well justified as long as there are clear guidelines as to what constitutes hate speech and how to deal with them.

[Matibhadra]

Indeed, under the guise of “fighting” hate speech, such law is only protecting the mass media's monopoly of hate speech while framing legitimate, non-violent dissent as “hate speech”.

Have you heard of the internet?

An “internet” without mass media? Or an “internet” without social networks?

[Matibhadra]

I think it is wonderful that Germany came up with with a law against hate speech. I do respect freedom of speech very much, but some people are using "freedom of speech" to vent their anger on other people.

What about mass media? Where is the law against mass media's relentless hate speech?

Why framing ordinary citizens, and impairing their freedom of speech, while allowing mass media relentlessly to spew their controllers' hatred against humanity?

Indeed, war-mongering mass media is relentlessly spewing hatred against Putin, Russia, China, Assad, Iran, North Korea, Trump, al-Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Palestinians freedom fighters, Hezbollah, critics of the “holocaust” industry, critics of the planned Muslim invasion and Islamization of Europe, communists, assorted European nationalists, anti-capitalists, anti-globalists, anti-patrimonialists, anti-war activists, anti-big pharma activists, strikers, critics of Jewish control of the banking system, of politicians left and right, of mass media itself, critics of Jewish racism and supremacism, critics of the racist state of Israel, critics of mass media itself, and other challengers of official “truths”.

And still what you support is framing and targeting the ordinary citizen, the very victim of mass media's hate speech?

I think the law would be reasonable and well justified as long as there are clear guidelines as to what constitutes hate speech and how to deal with them.

The law would be “reasonable” if it curtailed mass media's hate speech, period.

There is never ever a justification to impair ordinary people's freedom of speech, another period.

What you support, essentially, is a legal frame legitimizing mass media's monopoly of opinion.

[dsnowlion]

By FRANK JORDANS, ASSOCIATED PRESS BERLIN — Jun 30, 2017, 5:42 AM ET

German lawmakers approved a bill on Friday aimed at cracking down on hate speech on social networks, which critics say could have drastic consequences for free speech online.

The measure approved is designed to enforce the country's existing limits on speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial. Among other things, it would fine social networking sites up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content within a week, including defamatory "fake news."

"Freedom of speech ends where the criminal law begins," said Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who was the driving force behind the bill.

Maas said official figures showed the number of hate crimes in Germany increased by over 300 percent 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, with authorities struggling to keep up with the flood of criminal complaints.

Maas claimed that 14 months of discussion with major social media companies had made no significant progress. Last week, lawmakers from his Social Democratic Party and Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Union bloc agreed a number of amendments to give companies more time to check whether posts that are flagged to them are illegal, delegate the vetting process to a third party and ensure that users whose comments are removed can appeal the decision.

But human rights experts and the companies affected warn that the law risks privatizing the process of censorship and could have a chilling effect on free speech.

"This law as it stands now will not improve efforts to tackle this important societal problem," Facebook said in a statement.

"We feel that the lack of scrutiny and consultation do not do justice to the importance of the subject. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure safety for the people on our platform," the company said, noting that it is hiring 3,000 additional staff on top of 4,500 already working to review posts.

Aside from the hefty fine for companies, the law also provides for fines of up to 5 million euros 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.

Among those cheering the law was Germany's main Jewish organization, which called it a "strong instrument against hate speech in social networks."

Germany has long had a law criminalizing Holocaust denial — a response to the country's Nazi-era history of allowing racist ideas to become genocidal policy.

"Jews are exposed to anti-Semitic hatred in social networks on a daily basis," the Central Council of Jews said. "Since all voluntary agreements with platform operators produced almost no result, this law is the logical consequence to effectively limit hate speech."

The nationalist Alternative for Germany party, which has frequently been accused of whipping up sentiments against immigrants and minorities, said it is considering challenging the law in Germany's highest court.

Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-parliament-debates-online-hate-speech-law-48368036

WONDERFUL NEWS!

I cannot help to thin and I just wonder... does this mean the German monk who goes around talking nasty things and causing schism will be arrested if someone complains about his defamation statements and website??? I wonder whether Sogyal Rinpoche's group will file a report? It would be interesting to see what is Stassi's next move. 

Do you have to be in Germany or so long you are German?I suppose if you are from EU it does not matter where you live, you said it, you are liable for it.