Policy Observatory
German ‘hate-speech’ law tries to regulate Facebook and others - will it work?
In September 2017, a law with the euphonious name ‘Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz’ (‘network enforcement law’) was adopted in Germany. Its goal is to force social networks to remove hate speech and certain other unlawful content within 24 hours in obvious cases, otherwise within 7 days upon being notified. The transition period ended on 31 December 2017 - meaning the new rules can now be enforced. Failure to delete content within the given deadlines can result in heavy administrative fines of up to EUR 50m.
Country: Germany
Domains: IPR
Stakeholder: Government
Tags: illegal content, social network, Germany, hate speech