A new law to fight trolls and haters who sow hatred and violence on social networks is about to arrive Germania. The German Ministry of Justice is drafting a law that would allow courts to suspend the accounts of those who spread hate speech, threats and insults.
In Germany comes the anti-hater law on social networks
New crackdown on threats, insults and hatred of all kinds on social networks. It’s about content that in Germany they are already illegal and must be removed from the platformsAccording to the law NetzDG. The decision of whether or not to suspend an account, however, is up to the moderation of social networks.
The bill, anticipated by the German news agency ARD, would give users the ability to request a court that the accounts of those who offend or attack them be suspended under certain conditions. Without asking the social media moderators for an opinion.
It is a project that aims to curb those who abuse network space and that could be useful in cases in which the identity of whoever is behind a certain account is not known.
The suspension must in any case be “proportionate”, according to what is stated in the legislative proposal. And it will apply in the event of serious “violations of personal rights”. The judges will decide what falls within these criteria or not.
The law provides for this measure as a last resort: an account should be suspended only if other options – such as the removal of the disputed post – are deemed inadequate. For example when there is the danger of repetition. According to the current draft, profiles will only be able to be banned for a limited time.
The judges seem to agree, indeed there are those who would like to do more: an insult or threat should be enough to suspend the account. In any case, it still remains to be evaluated how and when it will be implemented. We will keep you posted.