Germany’s red eye on social media: Remove posts containing hate speech within 24 hours or pay penalty

Berlin, January 3: German government has shown a red eye on social media sites as the country began enforcing strict rules that could fine major internet sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube up to 50 million euros if they don't remove posts containing hate speech within 24 hours of receiving a complaint.

Any social network or media company that boasts more than two million members will be on the hook under the new provisions, which means that folks like Reddit, Tumblr, Vimeo, Flickr, and even Russian social network VK will likely be affected.

The law requires companies to maintain an "effective and transparent procedure for dealing with complaints" that users can access readily at any time. Upon receiving a complaint, social media companies must remove or block "obviously illegal content" within 24 hours, though they have up to a week when dealing with "complex cases."

While the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG) law was actually passed last summer and went into effect in October 2017, Germany gave companies until the end of the year to properly equip themselves to address hate speech reports. But now, three months later, the nation expects large social networks to have the tools they need to combat fake news, racist posts, and other bigoted messages on public platforms.

Background:

The Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG, law to improve law enforcement in social networks, also called the Facebook Law ) is a German law that is intended to be against hate and fake news (fake news) in social networks.