Photo Gallery The Nasty Face of Social Media
Speech glorifying Nazism or inciting violence against specific groups of people is illegal in Germany. But hate speech has become a real problem on social media, particularly on Facebook. In September 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was promised at a working lunch with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the company would do more to tackle the problem. One year later, the hate is as alive as ever on the platform.
This selection of hate speech includes posts against refugees with lines like, "Close the borders and bratatat until the machine gun burns." Or "cut their heads off with a rusty knife. These despical vermin make me want to puke."
When German actress Jennifer Ulrich posted on Facebook that she was "ashamed right now of being German" when she saw images of angry mobs harassing refugees, she received death threats on Facebook. "They should take a chainsaw to your shit-ugly, shit mouth," one wrote. Another stated: "The day of reckoning will come, leftist scum, and then I will be there to slaughter each and every one of you in the bloodiest possible way." Initially, at least, Facebook did not find the postings to be a violation of its "Community Standards."
Christoph Lauer, a former member of the net activist Pirate Party in Berlin, has also been subjected to vicious attacks on Facebook. "Big mouth Lauer, worry about the important things, like making sure these dirty refugees don't come -- otherwise you guys will be the first to burn." Police investigated the incident but didn't get anywhere because Facebook officials refused to reveal the IP address of the anonymous poster.
But Facebook's most persistent critic is in Würzburg. Lawyer Chan-jo Jun is seeking to have charges filed against the company's exectives for incitement, presentation of violence, libel and slander. He may stand a decent chance, too.
Some of the speech featured on Facebook may be perfectly legal in the United States, but not so in Germany, which although a successful democracy is still dealing with the ghosts of its Nazi past. Facebook has done far too little to address the hate speech problem in Germany. In the past, it has shown that it can move quickly to address problems, but often first when its shareholders get nervous.
