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| Facebook Ceo Zuckerberg and German Chancellor discussing censorship of hate-posts on facebook / Photo credit: dpa |
After being confronted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is willing to tightens Facebook censorship policy regarding recent anti-immigrant posts on German Facebook. But Publicist Christoph Kappes is very critical of this issue.
In the past weeks Europe has been confronted with a great influx of
refugees. Germany has been in particular the main destination for refugees
looking for a better life. Hence, the country has been struggling with the
situation and has currently stated that it might have reached its limits
concerning sheltering refugees.
Furthermore, there has been strong anti-sentiments towards refugees,
especially from Syria among the German population, resulting in escalating
violence and racist content published on social media platforms, specifically on
German Facebook. In the past many users have been complaining that Facebook did
not react to any of the comments or posts they reported which contained anti-immigrant
content. Stating that the reported content was indeed tested, but no violation
of the social network’s „Community Standards“ was found, Facebook refused to
delete any content. Thus German Chancellor Angela Merkel has asked Facebook to provide
stronger actions against such comments. The Chancellor supports the demand of the German Minister of
Justice Heiko Maas who urged Facebook in a letter to redeem its promise deleting
all hate posts against any national and religious affiliations. Recently Chancellor Angela Merkel and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
have met during the United Nations Development Summit where Merkel confronted
Zuckerberg with the current issue of censorship regarding hate-posts. The conversation was caught on a hot
mic. Zuckerberg assured Merkel that Facebook would work on her concern since the
social network claimed earlier that it was not a place for racism.
If Facebook provides a stricter censorship policy deleting more
content as requested by the German Minister of Justice, the question arises to
what extent Facebook remains a neutral platform granting its users sufficient
freedom of expression. According to publicist Christoph Kappes, urging Facebook
to decide on its own which content not only violates Community Standards but
also the law, the German Minister of Justice imposes duties of the police on
the social network. Kappes regards this to be very critical since Facebook as a
private company shouldn’t be performing such actions. Hence, it is important to
determine the level of responsibility of each the government and the providers
of social networks concerning violations.
Any measure that will diminish the benefit of these racist practices, whether online or offline, are welcome. As an international community we must not oppose to restrictions like this one, neither argue that it restrict freedom of expression. I believe in freedom but as long my actions do not affect others. And this is the case. Good for Facebook, I hope that these measures are replicated at the level of governments.
ReplyDeleteFacebook administration by doing this can prove itself more socially and politically responsible leadership of the world.
ReplyDelete