The German parliament has passed a law that allows the German government to fine companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter millions if they do not remove hate messages or fake news from their platforms within 24 hours. Fines can be up to 50 million euros.
The law, voted for by a majority of the CDU/CSU and SPD in the Bundestag, aims to curb the spread of fake news, hate messages and other messages with “criminal content”. The latter includes libel, defamation, public incitement to criminal offences, sedition, threats, child pornography and terrorist offences. The law will take effect from October.
If posts are undeniably criminal, the platforms must remove them within 24 hours of being reported. Social networks must offer a clear and easily accessible reporting procedure that allows users to submit these types of messages. Content that is not manifestly illegal must be reviewed within seven days. If a company does not respond or responds insufficiently to a report, the responsible person within the company can be fined up to five million euros, while the company itself risks a fine of up to fifty million euros.
The bill has recently been amended on an important point. The social media companies do not have to decide themselves in all cases in doubtful cases, where it is not obvious whether the content is actually illegal or punishable. In such cases, the platform may report to a newly independent government agency, who may then oversee the decision whether or not to remove. This government agency falls under the German Minister of Justice.
Facebook has criticized this law before. The company states that internet companies become paranoid in this way and in many doubtful cases will also remove legal content, for fear of the hefty fines. Facebook finds the amount of any fines disproportionately high and states that the law effectively transfers responsibility for making complex legal decisions to companies, something that according to Facebook belongs to government agencies. The law would also violate the German constitution and EU law.
The proposal gives private individuals who complain about libel, for example, the opportunity to find out the identity of the person who posted the messages via providers. The proposal states that this must be done through the courts.