German Law Requires Companies To Swiftly Delete 'Obviously Illegal' User Content

[Lucian Armasu]

Germany passed a law that will impose up to 50 million euro fines on social media companies that fail to remove hate speech and other "obviously illegal content." Human rights groups have criticized the law for harming freedom of expression.

German Law Requires Companies To Swiftly Delete 'Obviously Illegal' User Content : Read more

 

[takeshi7]

This will be abused to silence criticism of the government. Calling it now.

 

[techy1966]

So the jist of this is if a company does not remove content that is deemed racist the company can be fined. What about freedom of speech and the fact everyone has the same right to express themselves whether it is agreeable to everyone or not. I get that being racist is bad everybody has to live on this planet we call earth. We are all of the human race but maybe tell that to a certain group of people out there that think they are the only beings on this planet that deserve to live here and if you don't believe in what they believe you are not worthy and deserve to die.

What laws are gonna be put in place to protect the rest of us from this type of thought process going on now days.

 

[falchard]

Freedom of speech and liberalism is uniquely American. Outside the US such views are not the norm.

 

[DarkSable]

Freedom of speech and liberalism is uniquely American. Outside the US such views are not the norm.

I'm sorry, but... no.

Our Democratic party would be considered moderate at best, if not conservative-leaning, by most of Europe.

 

[falchard]

Liberalism is about freedom. Only the US will let you spout off racist nonsense because that is what it means to be free. Some people seem to confuse liberalism with something else.

 

[rayden54]

"Obviously illegal” under who's laws? Germany's? What right do they have to regulate the internet?

 

[jimmysmitty]

This will be abused to silence criticism of the government. Calling it now.

It already has actually. In other cases of course. In some countries people have been fined, arrested or jailed for their social media posts.

"Obviously illegal” under who's laws? Germany's? What right do they have to regulate the internet?

They don't but they act like it. The EU is mainly controlled and pushed by Germany, with France kind of helping. That's why so many companies keep getting fined for "anti-competitive" practices, mainly big companies.

And the sad thing is that unless it incites violence social media posts are just posts. Censoring that is horrible.

Welcome to 1984.

 

[one_with_shadows]

So, my opinion is only ok...if it doesn't offend someone? Well, sheesh. Guess I agree with everyone. I'm sure this worked out great for the Germans pre-WW2. Don't say anything illegal... What a crock.

 

[bit_user]

This will be abused to silence criticism of the government. Calling it now.

And how would that court case go the government's way?

 

[bit_user]

This will be abused to silence criticism of the government. Calling it now.

It already has actually. In other cases of course. In some countries

If it's "in some other countries" then it's not this law. Regardless of whether this law is good or bad, it's flawed analysis to treat it as equivalent to different laws in different countries.

"Obviously illegal” under who's laws? Germany's? What right do they have to regulate the internet?

They don't but they act like it. The EU is mainly controlled and pushed by Germany, with France kind of helping. That's why so many companies keep getting fined for "anti-competitive" practices, mainly big companies.

The EU parliament has proportional representation, with Germany and France having a combined share of 170 seats. That's only 22.6% of the 751 total seats. I'm not exactly sure how that qualifies as controlling it.

 

[sykozis]

I like how this immediately became about Freedom of Speech.... The term "illegal content" can mean a lot of different things, not just censorship of speech or expression.

 

[falchard]

They were more specific in saying Hate Crime.

 

[lahma]

Its always the authorities claiming to protect freedom who are the ones who ultimately destroy it. Anyone who believes any of this nonsense about the politicians being outraged because these companies failed to "protect the people" should dig a bit deeper. The politicians are angry because the companies failed to protect people from views that run contrary to those the politicians hold.

 

[synphul]

Seems to me if Germany wants to control everything according to their standards and deem what's legal or not it's an issue for Germany, not the internet at large. Doesn't China censor the web? Not sure Germany has a basis to sue companies based outside of their borders and instead may need to censor what communications are or aren't allowed in compliance with their standards.

Similar to the 'fake news' argument. Who gets to decide what's 'fake'? I've seen lots of clickbait style stories from a variety of sources, blogs and such that twist the story or the headline to rile people up and get them to see what 'crazy' thing is going on now. Then again I've seen a lot of false information and 'fake' news being spawned by traditional sources, organizations from both television and newspaper. From what I've seen the 'real' news is no more accurate or truthful or unbiased than any other source.

Seriously sounds like they're headed down a slippery slope. Eventually all outside communication may be restricted and only 'approved' messaging can be delivered via the German government, making sure the people only hear what they want them to hear and can only say what they're allowed to. Forced to hide and communicate in whispers and secret code if their views conflict with the 'greater good'.

 

[in_the_loop]

BIT_USER said:

The EU parliament has proportional representation, with Germany and France having a combined share of 170 seats. That's only 22.6% of the 751 total seats. I'm not exactly sure how that qualifies as controlling it.

The EU parliament is just a "lame duck" with no real power.
The real power is in the European commision and the European Council. In these the France and Germany are very important.

 

[rantoc]

I just love that its the German goverment who dictates whats unlawful... a shroud of democracy but if voicing anything that's not considered good for the gov it can be labeled as unlawful and thus silenced.

No mater how its worded its a good step to throw free speech in the dumpster!

I for one hope Fake news gets strong legalization in EU with very heavy fines, the mainstream outlets here in Sweden for instance are continuously lying and get caught on at least a weekly basis yet nothing happens beside less than 50% of the population trusts them especially when their covering up the negative sides of insane uncontrolled mass migration.

 

[bit_user]

I like how this immediately became about Freedom of Speech.... The term "illegal content" can mean a lot of different things, not just censorship of speech or expression.

I think the freedom of speech aspect is highly relevant, since website posts are a form of speech.

What bothers me is how suddenly the subject turned towards government oppression, in the abstract. I don't see how it's constructive to criticize the bill without getting into the specifics. I'm a big believer in freedom of speech, but if that's your issue, then you probably have bigger qualms with German law than just this bill (e.g. their outright ban on anything deemed pro-Nazi).

From what I can tell, this doesn't create any new classifications of illegal content. The whole point of it is about how to enforce the existing laws. It is a bit disturbing if there's no penalty against these companies removing non-illegal content, since they might take the easy way out and use overly-broad filters that catch too many posts. I think this shows why it's generally a bad idea to privatize law enforcement.

 

[virtualban]

A part of me wishes companies would tell Germany there is no law obligating companies to hold user data, even when it is completely legal, and to drop everything and tell them: build your own policed internet, and hope your people don't learn how to circumvent it and see you as the little China you are becoming.

I know this is not the right path to go towards freedom, but, idiocy inspires me to react idiotically to it.

German politicians: I hope it is considered hate speech in your world, but my personal desire is that what happened to the french revolution, happens to you, by vote and desire of your masses that you have not kept happy. Racism is not suppressed like that, not even in the age of newspapers. The more you suppress it, the more next election you will be in the recycle bin, or in a concentration camp along with the unwelcomed guests.

Question: Can a personal desire upon which only my subconscious will take steps on acting, such as wishing someone dead but in practice staying away from them, be considered hate speech? Because I may wish illness and other misfortunes to various subhuman categories (subhuman according to my opinion, which, if I am not allowed to have, well, the world not allowing me to have it does not deserve me around, so, multiverse solution to a local problem).

 

[MASOUTH]

Didn't Germany try cracking down on free speech before in the name of stopping what was wrong or hateful and all in the name of doing what's best for the people? What was that guy's name again...Alan...Aldus....Adolf?

Yeah, that worked out swell for the entire world....

 

[Maarsch]

I am interested in seeing how this resolves itself, but will look forward to this German law being enforced on my internet and won't feel even a little bad about that.

 

[MASOUTH]

Go ahead and down vote me, and maybe I am using an extreme example, but don't you dare for one minute pretend that good ole' Adolf didn't start from a position of appealing to what the citizens felt was "right" and then just keep pushing on from there.
Am I making a slippery slope argument? You bet.
Have we watched this exact country slide down that slope before? yes we have
am I wrong for suggesting that it could happen in this modern day and age? if I was then we wouldn't be seeing laws like this or having this discussion in the first place.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

I see a lot of people being upset about this and referring to their rights to freedom of speech. Here are the facts:
Your freedom of speech is not and shall NEVER be defended by a corporation.
Your freedom of speech is not limited by a company not providing you with an audience of millions to spread your hate speech. Your freedom of speech does not include the right to demand anyone else should repeat it.
A company letting you post hate speech and share it with millions is taking a stance for hate speech.
Your freedom of speech is defended in your courts and with your elections. Not by internet dot company.

 

[MASOUTH]

I see a lot of people being upset about this and referring to their rights to freedom of speech. Here are the facts...

Either you misread the comments or I did? Who was implying that a corporation was responsible and not blaming a German law/ German Parliament?

 

[epdm2be]

"...when some people use hateful comments and threats to silence and harass others online...."

... thus you take away the freedom of ALL the other people.

Why do western governments keep dissing away people's rights and freedoms because a small certain incompatible group of people is messing it up for ALL the others? Why not just shove out that small group instead? Value our freedoms or go!