Online hate speech may soon incur a hefty bill in Germany

[Deleted]

Banning insult is no European standard.

Contrary, it is common through europe, and even in UKs former commonwealth countries.

And even the USA has a defamation law.

[Deleted]

Contrary, it is common through europe, and even in UKs former commonwealth countries.

Banning insult, per se, isn't common at all in Europe. Defamation, slander, libel, calumny, etc are though. Not insult.
The few places where it is prosecuted it often requires some other breaches, like it being intended to cause alarm or distress.
Germany's censorship, while mild on a global scale, is no European standard.

[Deleted]

Banning insult, per se, isn't common at all. Defamation, slander, libel, calumny, etc are though. Not insult.

I talked about public denouncings including insults. Which is defamation.

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Germany's censorship, while mild on a global scale, is no European standard.

Based on our history. But it doesnt change the fact many european countries have insult laws and anti defamation laws.

[Deleted]

I talked about public denouncings including insults. Which is defamation.

You are using very lax language in something that should be narrowly defined. I'm giving you the proper words. "Public insult" is not it.
Defamation generally also requires the denouncing to be false statements. That is a common thing to prosecute. Not insult.

[Ravenblade]

Well, i think twitter and facebook have to respect the laws in the countries their service is available. That also inludes the european law standard for human dignity and to prevent public violence. And the filter bubbles those social media outlets create actually are dangerous, as there is no controversial discussion anymore. You literally see the right wing fanatics in a vicious circle producing violent discussions.

If a law which enforces fines is the right answer here, is surely open to debate.

They have to respect the laws but I am not a law expert about how far they can actually be held responsible because that's a can of worms which we've had many in the past. I disagree, however, that this will have the effect of the erosion of the dreaded filter bubbles. The bubble is in the end not the result of failed censoring, it's the result of having algorithms and mechanics creating the effect of a tailored global sphere for individuals that happen to share a percentage of parameter points, it's the result of people trusting the effect of many-likes-equals-many-truth. The censoring algorithms will just act as beard trimmers.

It will continue while the people will look for other platforms which will fall outside the range of law and which operate with similar algorithms. The culprit is over-dependence on social media because traditional media have seemingly fallen into the same patterns over time now. It's actually the lifeblood of social media to keep this image up. The thing is that social media are not called "social" for no reasons, it's reliance on tampering with and harvesting feelings and moods is what makes them seriously more dangerous than plain old false stories in a tabloid rag which never had the option to properly gauge and process reactions.

There were many attempts to apply correctives before such as promotion of counter-speech and fact checkers but ultimately it's not replacing increased awareness of how social media work and in reality it's going to be more difficult to explain that it's more than just few fake images or denials of science or history. A lot people started believing silly things after they were overwhelmed by a flood of self-confirming stories and images while finding less and less opposition the more they started to feed the algorithms.

[Deleted]

There were many attempts to apply correctives before such as promotion of counter-speech and fact checkers but ultimately it's not replacing increased awareness of how social media work and in reality it's going to be more difficult to explain that it's more than just few fake images or denials of science or history. A lot people started believing silly things after they were overwhelmed by a flood of self-confirming stories and images while finding less and less opposition the more they started to feed the algorithms.

I doubt it can ever be corrected.
The concepts are not new. People like their bubbles. It's only now more apparent and efficient. With no sign of slowing down.

[Mehrunes]

What you're saying is babble, we live in a republic, and your lunatic ravings are not about the topic.

Since the only reason you'd bring up US being a republic in this context was in reply to the part about shitting on democracy, it appears you're one of the brilliant people who hurr durr that "US is a republic, not a democracy!". Sorry to break it to you, but it's a democratic republic.

[Tennis]

I agree. We could do with a bit less hatred towards unmarried and overweight people. That kind of hate speech should start leading to jail sentences. Does Canada jail for hate speech yet?

Hatred? Disdain? Disappointment? They are different sentiments.

[Rennadrel]

It is still an opinion, no matter how stupid it is, should people be imprisoned for it?

Should I be jailed for saying the earth is flat?

No, jailing people for denying anything is retarded. Might as well jail Christians who deny science while we are at it, because that's how obtuse it is to imprison or fine someone for denying the Holocaust. Just because someone wants to be an idiot doesn't mean they deserve jail time

[Elba]

Good. Existing laws should be enforced online as well.

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Fuck that garbage. You should not be fined or jailed or anything else unless you've legitimately endangered somebody's life as we currently understand it under law.

Volksverhetzung is against German law. Has been since its creation. Why shouldn't people be punished if they break the law?

I hope Germany enjoys being online buttfucked by everybody due to this fascist bullshit. Garbage like this is what drives people to support Trump. Good job.

Why should Germans care about people supporting Trump?

[bladeXcrasher]

The daily threads which people with Trump avatars talk about how there is a civil war coming and how they will shoot everyone with their big manly guns ?

That's also the ''plot'' of the holy book of the alt-right, the Turner Diaries.

Once your vacation is over, please link these daily threads you speak of.

[Mormolyce]

Which is all very ironic indeed. They're setting the scene up perfectly. They're making a noose for their own hanging.

Remember how the Weimar Republic censored the Nazis?

Oh wait, they didn't.

[Deleted]

Hatred? Disdain? Disappointment? They are different sentiments.

The sentiment in one's head can be very different from the words they put out into the world. The thoughts might feel like disdain and disappointment, but the words come out as hatred, vitriol and toxicity.

[Ravenblade]

Good. Existing laws should be enforced online as well.

It will catch many small fishes. That's for sure. Idiots, technical illiterates and naive people. Clever people have been using non-German platforms for some time and have gathered quite some followers there. Some firebrands know how to play the German system very well. Best law ever. It's like with economical crimes and tax evasion, the government easily catches the guy trying to appropriate some 50 € but has huge troubles draining tax havens.

[Deleted]

This is ridiculous. A thread "Germany legalizes gay marriage in historic vote" has twice more posts than this thread. I have nothing against gay people, but suppressing freedom of speech in the name of a few bullies on the internet is something Germans should fight against. A big shame to you Germans... what happened to you.. And you try to lead EU??? Sigh..

[Deleted]

This is ridiculous. A thread "Germany legalizes gay marriage in historic vote" has twice more posts than this thread. I have nothing against gay people, but suppressing freedom of speech in the name of a few bullies on the internet is something Germans should fight against. A big shame to you Germans... what happened to you.. And you try to lead EU??? Sigh..

Oh this thread has enough posts. But if i read your post it could have less "GERMANY CENSOR!" posts, while you could start to read the initial post to find out what those laws really are about.

Dont listen to everything /pol/ or Breitbart write about.

[Tennis]

The sentiment in one's head can be very different from the words they put out into the world. The thoughts might feel like disdain and disappointment, but the words come out as hatred, vitriol and toxicity.

I get along just fine with larger folk irl. You have me wrong.

[Raunchy]

Hate speech..... lol people actually think mazis are a problem just lol

[Deleted]

“When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”

Not to mention censorship for the sake of civility or peace is like rape for virginity. The only bulwark against war is free speech, without it the only option left to reach some sort of social consensus is violence and so conflict will escalate. And You clearly learnt nothing from history if you think German police should take people from their houses in the middle of the night for the crime of freely expressing themselves in oposition to the governmental status quo - free expression i might add - which is a basic human right in any civilized country.