German court slams Facebook for removing author's racist posts; 'user not informed'

A top German court has called out Facebook for the removal of racist posts and blocking the account of an author. The author filed a court case against Facebook in Germany after his posts were taken down from the social media platform. Interestingly, the plaintiff's comments violated the Facebook community standards governing hate speech and the promotion of the foul language. 

Facebook rules: 'Null and Void' 

A speech or comment that incites the public or threatens the peace of the country and its citizens is considered hate speech under German Law. In its three-page summary, the Karlsruhe-based court claimed that Facebook's service terms regarding the deletion or removal of posts and blocking or suspending accounts for violating its community standards were "null and void". This is because Facebook does not take the responsibility to inform the user about the removal of an offensive post, the plaintiff explained. The Germany-based author also pointed out that the Facebook community also should take the onus to advise that it is blocking an account, or cite a reason for doing so, or at least offer the right of appeal, the judicial appeal demanded. 

Zero tolerance for hate speech: Facebook responds 

Meanwhile, Facebook retorted that it would assess the judgment in order to ensure that it can continue to effectively provide assistance and remove hate speech in Germany. “We have zero tolerance for hate speech, and we’re committed to removing it from Facebook," a company spokesperson said referring to the German court verdict. The post in question here alleged that "Islamist immigrants" are free to murder with "impunity" in Germany.
Indirectly indicating Germany's main domestic security agency, the post added, "Migrants can murder and rape here and nobody cares! It's about time the Office for the Protection of the Constitution sorted this out." 

German hate speech law 

Germany recently modified its hate-speech law that first came into force in 2018. The law requires platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the video-sharing services to take down toxic and hateful content. Google has sought a judicial review of a new provision in the law, known in German as NetzDB. The law violated privacy because data can be passed to law enforcement before it is evident a crime has been committed, Google stated in its comment last week. 

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