Facebook claims to have deleted 362 posts linked to online hate speech in Germany, moving to implement closely watched national legislation, Reuters reports.
In the first half of 2018, Facebook has removed 2,500 posts violating “community standards.”
Facebook is now treated as a media platform and could face €50 million fines if it fails to effectively monitor hate speech on its platform.
Germany NetzDG law forbids hate speech, including defamation and incitement to hatred, targeting individuals on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. The law requires the platform to respond within 24 hours and has triggered 1,704 hate speech complaints, leading to 362 posts deletions.
Facebook has fiercely defended the platform’s openness to any view, with Mark Zuckerberg going as far as suggesting that users should be able to post even holocaust denial views.