Skip to main content

German Justice Minister says his country must do more to fight fake news

facebook instant article subscription coming
Alaskla/123RF
Facebook has already announced its plan to combat fake news, but apparently, that’s not enough for Germany. In an interview published Sunday morning, Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas insisted that his country’s judges and state prosecutors ought to lay down the law on fake news spread via social media networks (like Facebook), and that it needed to happen immediately.

Maas has long pointed out that anti-defamation laws in Germany are more strict than those in the U.S., and as such, American tech companies must respect the laws of the land when operating in the European country. In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Maas noted that free speech does not justify slander.

“Defamation and malicious gossip are not covered under freedom of speech,” Maas said, echoing calls from some of his German colleagues to tamp down on “hate speech” circulating throughout Facebook, Twitter, and other such platforms. This was just days after other top government officials called for legislation to tackle hate speech and fake news on social media platforms.

 “Justice authorities must prosecute that, even on the internet,” Maas added, “Anyone who tries to manipulate the political discussion with lies needs to be aware (of the consequences).” In Germany, those consequences could include up to five years in jail.

While Germany’s libel and slander laws are indeed far-reaching, few of the 218,000 cases filed in 2015 dealt with internet instances. But Maas says that ought to change. “We need to fully utilize all the legal authority at our disposal,” he said.

“Facebook is earning an awful lot of money with fake news,” Maas concluded. “A company that earns billions from the internet also has a social responsibility. Prosecutable defamation must be deleted immediately, once reported. It needs to be made easier for users to report fake news.”

Editors' Recommendations

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
X rival Threads could be about to get millions of more users
Instagram Threads app.

Threads -- Meta’s rival to X, formerly Twitter -- has just launched in the European Union (EU), a market with nearly half a billion people.

The app launched in the U.S. to much fanfare in July, with Meta hoping to attract X users disillusioned with the turbulence on the platform since Elon Musk acquired it for $44 billion 14 months ago.

Read more
X (formerly Twitter) returns after global outage
A white X on a black background, which could be Twitter's new logo.

X, formerly known as Twitter, went down for about 90 minutes for users worldwide early on Thursday ET.

Anyone opening the social media app across all platforms was met with a blank timeline. On desktop, users saw a message that simply read, "Welcome to X," while on mobile the app showed suggestions for accounts to follow.

Read more
How to create multiple profiles on a Facebook account
A series of social media app icons on a colorful smartphone screen.

Facebook (and, by extension, Meta) are particular in the way that they allow users to create accounts and interact with their platform. Being the opposite of the typical anonymous service, Facebook sticks to the rule of one account per one person. However, Facebook allows its users to create multiple profiles that are all linked to one main Facebook account.

In much the same way as Japanese philosophy tells us we have three faces — one to show the world, one to show family, and one to show no one but ourselves — these profiles allow us to put a different 'face' out to different aspects or hobbies. One profile can keep tabs on your friends, while another goes hardcore into networking and selling tech on Facebook Marketplace.

Read more