(Newslink): Tough new German law puts tech firms and free speech in spotlight
US social media companies have scaled up operations in Germany, where a controversial new law has turned the country into a testbed for whether tech firms can be relied on to tell the difference between free speech and hate speech.Facebook and Twitter have fitted their German websites with additional features for flagging up controversial content, and spent months hiring and training moderators to cope with the Network Enforcement Act, which came into full effect on 1 January 2018.But a number of controversial deletions and suspensions in the law’s first few days have bolstered critics who say the law will impact free speech, as companies try to avoid fines.
In the aftermath of the second world war, Germany passed some of the world’s toughest laws around hate speech, including prison sentences for Holocaust denial and inciting hatred against minorities. In recent years politicians have increasingly voiced concerns about a relative lack of accountability online.Under the law, known in Germany as “NetzDG”, online platforms face fines of up to €50m (£44m) if they do not remove “obviously illegal” hate speech and other postings within 24 hours of receiving a notification. A seven-day period is granted for removal of “illegal” content.Users of Facebook and Twitter now have additional ways to flag up offensive posts they want to report for contravening not just the platform’s own community standards but the new law, which also applies to sites like Youtube, Instagram and Snapchat.
Facebook says it started hiring German-language moderators before the law was approved and has 1,200 people reviewing flagged conten St from “deletion centres” in Berlin and Essen. They make up a sixth of its global moderation team.The Guardian understands that Twitter has hired more German-language moderators with a background in law but still operates from its European headquarters in Dublin.Figures on how the law has affected the number of deletions won’t be published until June. Last summer, Facebook carried out an average of 15,000 deletions in Germany each month.
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