Social Media Firms Agree To Eliminate Hate Speech Posts Within 24 Hours

• The German government confirmed on Tuesday that social media companies have agreed to delete hate speech from their respective social media platforms within 24 hours.
• The social media platforms include Facebook Inc FB, Twitter Inc TWTR and Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL.
• The German government warned the social media networks not to become "a funfair for the far right."

Facebook, Twitter and Google have all agreed to collaborate closer with the German government to have hate speech removed from their respective social platforms within 24 hours.

According to Germany's Justice Minister Heiko Maas, social media platforms must not "become a funfair for the far right." The move follows an influx of more than 1 million refugees into the country.

Related Link: Facebook Says Europe's Attack On Privacy Policies Will Hurt The Majority Of Users

Terms Of The Agreement

Under the new agreement, German laws will trump the terms of use for each site. However, Cnet pointed out that it is still unclear how the process will work, who has final say on what content warrants a deletion and if the comments will be visible to the social media community outside of Germany.

"When the limits of free speech are trespassed, when it is about criminal expressions, sedition, incitement to carry out criminal offences that threaten people, such content has to be deleted from the net," Maas was quoted as saying by The Tribune. "And we agree that as a rule this should be possible within 24 hours."

The Process, For Now

A group of specialists will track down, examine and remove offending posts – all within the new time limit of 24 hours. In addition, Facebook's Hamburg-based managing director for northern, central and eastern Europe Martin Ott may be held responsible if the platform fails to remove hate speech, Breitbart noted.

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