EU justice ministers met Friday in Luxembourg in a bid to combat a rise in hate speech and xenophobia spread through social media as Europe grapples with an unprecedented influx of refugees.
09.10.2015
(AFP) EU justice ministers met Friday in Luxembourg in a bid to combat a rise in hate
speech and xenophobia spread through social media as Europe grapples
with an unprecedented influx of refugees.
Facebook pledged last month to fight a surge in racism on its
German-language network as Germany has become the top destination for
refugees, triggering a backlash from the far right.
"We realised in Germany that hate criminality has increased
significantly on social platforms," German Justice Minister Heiko Maas
told reporters as he arrived for talks in Luxembourg.
Maas was to brief his EU counterparts about talks with Facebook and
other sites as well as German initiatives to fight what he said was a
European-wide problem.
"If someone calls for killing refugees or burning Jews then this is
not covered by freedom of speech. This is a criminal act which will be
prosecuted," he said.
"Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter have a responsibility to make
sure that such things will be deleted. This is not yet sufficiently the
case," he said.
For example, nobody understands why Facebook can delete child
pornographic images in 24 hours but "not an incitement to kill someone,"
he added.
But Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for justice, following the meeting in Luxembourg, said it was
important to strike a balance between hate speech, which "is simply
unacceptable," and freedom of expression, which "is one of our core
values."
French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira stated that France already had a good legal arsenal against hate speech.
"We must verify at the European level that our laws are harmonised to
allow us to prosecute with the same effectiveness and severity
everywhere on (EU) territory," Taubira said.