Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow
The bolded words were from the article, not from me. Moreover, the article makes clear in the last two paragraphs that Germany expects Facebook to police their content, not for the German government to do it. You sure do get spun up about stuff you don't understand.
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Yes, but YOU picked the section of the article you wanted to quote. And before you backpedal too far, the article YOU linked to has the following headline:
"German courts should go after fake news on Facebook now: minister" Which means, in case you fail to understand the magnitude of the headline, the Justice Minister of Germany is urging German prosecutors and courts get more aggressive in this area, REGARDLESS of what Facebook might or might not do to "police itself".
From the article you linked to:
"Justice authorities must prosecute that, even on the internet," he (Maas) said, noting that offenders could face up to five years in jail. "Anyone who tries to manipulate the political discussion with lies needs to be aware (of the consequences)."
The issue of fake news has taken on new urgency after warnings by German and U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia has sought to influence elections and sway public opinion.
German government officials have expressed concern that fake news could influence the parliamentary election expected in September, in which Merkel will run for a fourth term.
The first part that I highlighted above: unlike Germany - the constitution in this country protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and very specifically was crafted to so that POLITICAL SPEECH was protected. You stated at the end of your quote that "it seems that the ever logical Germans are able to recognize what fake news is and isn't." Well, it looks like the "ever logical" Germans want to specifically get aggressive with controlling political speech on the internet - particularly when they can leverage the weight of the government's prosecutorial power on an entity like Facebook where private citizens can be identified and targeted. And we then see that the driver is probably not "defamation laws" as much as it is Merkel's re-election.
I'm sure that Merkel and Maas would likely benefit greatly from controlling "fake news", like observations that her lax immigration policies may have contributed to increased terrorist activity in Germany. I fear the incident in Berlin today may turn out to be another sad example.