Germany has just introduced a new law that is being dubbed the toughest social media law in the world. From October, sites with more than two million users – including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube – face fines of up to €50million if unlawful or offensive content is not removed within 24 hours.
Unlawful content like hate speech or other criminal material requires removal within the 24-hour time frame; however, content that is not obviously unlawful must be assessed within seven days.
In a statement, Facebook expressed its unity with the German government in fighting hate speech, however noted that it disagreed with this tactic: "We believe the best solutions will be found when government, civil society and industry work together and that this law as it stands now will not improve efforts to tackle this important societal problem."
The Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG) law was initially created in an attempt to counteract several high-profile cases of fake news and criminal hate speech being spread across German social media.
