6 ms·

Merkel has already told facebook and twitter to delete comments and ban accounts negative of her 'policies'.

by actionwords 11y ago

RobertoG 11y ago
Do you have any reference about that?
- actionwords 11y ago
  There's been 3 references posted already. All social media is monitored in germany for state-defined 'hate speech' ie, anti mass illegal immigration speech.
gotchange 11y ago
Source please? Anecdotally speaking, FB & TW are doing an awful job of complying with Merkel's "supposed orders" as I see people dissing her and her policies esp. immigration whether for or against all the time and in German too.
- actionwords 11y ago
  http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/27/angela-merkel-caught-on-hot-mic-pressing-facebook-ceo-over-anti-immigrant-posts.html http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/27/angela-merkel-caught-on-hot-m... On the sidelines of a United Nations luncheon on Saturday, Merkel was caught on a hot mic pressing Zuckerberg about social media posts about the wave of Syrian refugees entering Germany, the publication reported. The Facebook CEO was overheard responding that "we need to do some work" on curtailing anti-immigrant posts about the refugee crisis. "Are you working on this?" Merkel asked in English, to which Zuckerberg replied in the affirmative before the transmission was disrupted.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - DangerousPie 11y ago
    She is not asking to remove content critical of her policies, she is asking to remove content promoting violence or racial hatred. You can criticize her policies as much as you want.
  - germanier 11y ago
    This does not concern mere anti-immigrant posts but those that are blatantly against long-existing German laws, such as calls for violence, incitement of the masses, trivialization the actions of the Nazi regime and so on. Those have been against Facebook's own community guidelines before but enforcement has been spotty.
    - maze-le 11y ago
      Don't bother... "actionwords" is a troll account, created 2 hours ago. I am not so sure if it is a troll with political motivation or just a "for the lulz"-kind. On a side-note: it is very interesting that on HN, these kinds of trolls are way less visible than on other platforms
      - germanier 11y ago
        Ah, thanks that's what I suspected but never checked. Nonetheless I think that the responses of me and others in this subthread should provide a good view to how those things are handled differently in Germany to those who are not trolling.
  - gotchange 11y ago
    This is just friendly chit chat/small talk on the sidelines of a UN event not the draconian and sky-falling issue as you portrayed it. Don't you think that something that grave would warrant official communications instead other than informal exchange of words without a single mention of refugees or immigrants? Much ado about nothing!
  - morsch 11y ago
    It's hardly a secret, the government is very open about curtailing hate speech on social networks. It's not a huge step in a country where everybody is used to Holocaust denial being a crime (much to your chagrin, I'm sure).
embik 11y ago
This is not true at all. The German Government is asking Facebook to delete comments which could be categorized as hate speech ("Volksverhetzung" in German). These comments are not "negative of her policies", they are calling on people to kill, gas or otherwise attack refugees, politicans or journalists. They are simply asking Facebook to comply with German law. Some comments comparable to those in question are curated at a tumblr blog (https://perlen-aus-freital.tumblr.com/ https://perlen-aus-freital.tumblr.com/). Those comments are anything but a political statement against Merkel's policies. They are born out of pure hatred.
- actionwords 11y ago
  When a state defines 'hate speech' laws they're really defining 'thought criminal' laws. Merkle and co. are trying to manipulate public opinion through the destruction of contrarian thought from the public realm.
  - embik 11y ago
    No they are not (as outlined aboved). Death threats are not part of any public discourse nor political statements. People are able to oppose the government's policies without being silenced. On a related note, the hate speech laws have not been introduced by the Merkel government.
  - germanier 11y ago
    Hate speech laws and thought crimes are on a totally different level. In Germany you are completely free to use the most blatant hate speech as much as you like as long as you don't do so in public. Those laws are also not created by "Merkel and co." but decades old and introduced by the allies after the second world-war.
  - gotchange 11y ago
    When someone incites people to attack Cologne mayor Henriette Reker in an attempt to kill her for her positive views and policies regarding immigration and refugees, I'd classify this speech as "hate speech & call for violence" and should be dealt with swiftly and firmly in accordance with the law.
js-coder 11y ago
She is asking them to remove racist comments that call for violence.
- actionwords 11y ago
  not true. simply removing 'thought criminals' from disseminating their views.
  - js-coder 11y ago
    Wow, you really have no idea what you're talking about
therealmarv 11y ago
This is not because of "her policies".. it's because of German law. USA cannot dictate laws in Europe! Doing hate speech against ethnic groups or sympathize with Hitler in public is no problem for Facebook it seems (German: Volksverhetzung). Here in Germany it is and was against the law! At the same time USA and facebook is getting crazy and deletes posts immediately if you see naked female body parts! This is not against any law here in Germany. So what is more dangerous for the public?
detaro 11y ago
Could you please not try to derail the discussion with unrelated discussions? While there is a lot to debate in that space, it doesn't really have anything to do with these surveillance tools.

Merkel has already told facebook and twitter to delete comments and ban accounts negative of her 'policies'.

RobertoG 11y ago

Do you have any reference about that?

actionwords 11y ago
There's been 3 references posted already. All social media is monitored in germany for state-defined 'hate speech' ie, anti mass illegal immigration speech.

gotchange 11y ago

Source please? Anecdotally speaking, FB & TW are doing an awful job of complying with Merkel's "supposed orders" as I see people dissing her and her policies esp. immigration whether for or against all the time and in German too.

actionwords 11y ago
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/27/angela-merkel-caught-on-hot-mic-pressing-facebook-ceo-over-anti-immigrant-posts.html http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/27/angela-merkel-caught-on-hot-m... On the sidelines of a United Nations luncheon on Saturday, Merkel was caught on a hot mic pressing Zuckerberg about social media posts about the wave of Syrian refugees entering Germany, the publication reported. The Facebook CEO was overheard responding that "we need to do some work" on curtailing anti-immigrant posts about the refugee crisis. "Are you working on this?" Merkel asked in English, to which Zuckerberg replied in the affirmative before the transmission was disrupted.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- DangerousPie 11y ago
  She is not asking to remove content critical of her policies, she is asking to remove content promoting violence or racial hatred. You can criticize her policies as much as you want.
- germanier 11y ago
  This does not concern mere anti-immigrant posts but those that are blatantly against long-existing German laws, such as calls for violence, incitement of the masses, trivialization the actions of the Nazi regime and so on. Those have been against Facebook's own community guidelines before but enforcement has been spotty.
  - maze-le 11y ago
    Don't bother... "actionwords" is a troll account, created 2 hours ago. I am not so sure if it is a troll with political motivation or just a "for the lulz"-kind. On a side-note: it is very interesting that on HN, these kinds of trolls are way less visible than on other platforms
    - germanier 11y ago
      Ah, thanks that's what I suspected but never checked. Nonetheless I think that the responses of me and others in this subthread should provide a good view to how those things are handled differently in Germany to those who are not trolling.
- gotchange 11y ago
  This is just friendly chit chat/small talk on the sidelines of a UN event not the draconian and sky-falling issue as you portrayed it. Don't you think that something that grave would warrant official communications instead other than informal exchange of words without a single mention of refugees or immigrants? Much ado about nothing!
- morsch 11y ago
  It's hardly a secret, the government is very open about curtailing hate speech on social networks. It's not a huge step in a country where everybody is used to Holocaust denial being a crime (much to your chagrin, I'm sure).

embik 11y ago

This is not true at all. The German Government is asking Facebook to delete comments which could be categorized as hate speech ("Volksverhetzung" in German). These comments are not "negative of her policies", they are calling on people to kill, gas or otherwise attack refugees, politicans or journalists. They are simply asking Facebook to comply with German law. Some comments comparable to those in question are curated at a tumblr blog (https://perlen-aus-freital.tumblr.com/ https://perlen-aus-freital.tumblr.com/). Those comments are anything but a political statement against Merkel's policies. They are born out of pure hatred.

actionwords 11y ago
When a state defines 'hate speech' laws they're really defining 'thought criminal' laws. Merkle and co. are trying to manipulate public opinion through the destruction of contrarian thought from the public realm.
- embik 11y ago
  No they are not (as outlined aboved). Death threats are not part of any public discourse nor political statements. People are able to oppose the government's policies without being silenced. On a related note, the hate speech laws have not been introduced by the Merkel government.
- germanier 11y ago
  Hate speech laws and thought crimes are on a totally different level. In Germany you are completely free to use the most blatant hate speech as much as you like as long as you don't do so in public. Those laws are also not created by "Merkel and co." but decades old and introduced by the allies after the second world-war.
- gotchange 11y ago
  When someone incites people to attack Cologne mayor Henriette Reker in an attempt to kill her for her positive views and policies regarding immigration and refugees, I'd classify this speech as "hate speech & call for violence" and should be dealt with swiftly and firmly in accordance with the law.

js-coder 11y ago

She is asking them to remove racist comments that call for violence.

actionwords 11y ago
not true. simply removing 'thought criminals' from disseminating their views.
- js-coder 11y ago
  Wow, you really have no idea what you're talking about

therealmarv 11y ago

This is not because of "her policies".. it's because of German law. USA cannot dictate laws in Europe! Doing hate speech against ethnic groups or sympathize with Hitler in public is no problem for Facebook it seems (German: Volksverhetzung). Here in Germany it is and was against the law! At the same time USA and facebook is getting crazy and deletes posts immediately if you see naked female body parts! This is not against any law here in Germany. So what is more dangerous for the public?

detaro 11y ago

Could you please not try to derail the discussion with unrelated discussions? While there is a lot to debate in that space, it doesn't really have anything to do with these surveillance tools.