Facebook Says German Fake News Bill Isn't 'Suitable To Combat Hate Speech'

Facebook said Monday the draft law in Germany to tackle fake news will not be enough to tackle hate speech. German Justice Minister Heiko Maas proposed a legislation in March, which would mandate fines for social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for hosting illegal content.

Fake news has been a huge concern for European countries, especially after the recent hacking scandal, which happened during the French election. According to Deutsche Welle, if the bill becomes a law, Facebook could face fines up to 50 million Euros ($56 million).

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Facebook, however does not believe the legislation, if passed, would be fair to social networking sites.

"Generally, Facebook shares the federal government's concern regarding hate speech and false news online. At the same time, Facebook understands its own responsibility and welcomes political efforts to combat these challenges. However, the draft law is not the right way to achieve these political goals," the company said in a statement to Engadget Monday.

"The draft law provides an incentive to delete content that is not clearly illegal when social networks face such a disproportionate threat of fines. It would have the effect of transferring responsibility for complex legal decisions from public authorities to private companies. And several legal experts have assessed the draft law as being against the German constitution and non-compliant with EU law. Facebook is committed to working in partnership with governments and civil society on solutions that will make this draft law unnecessary." .

The company also said it believes it is the state’s responsibility rather than the social networking sites’ to monitor and combat hate speech and fake news.

While Facebook might be concerned with the state’s intervention with regard to its content and the proposed fines, such legislation also brings up the larger question of free speech and also what qualifies and what doesn’t as hate speech. If the state’s standards are imposed it could give the government power to regulate what can and cannot be posted on social networks, which in turn could mar the perception of the internet as a free space.

While fake news might be monitored and tracked over social media and even analyzed and verified by news experts, hate speech marks a trickier territory. Providing the state the authority to regulate content might create scenarios like the one in China, where the state-run social network Weibo is extensively censored and people are not allowed to express their opinions freely.

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The best bet for hate speech, then, is community standards, where hate speech is reported by social media users and analyzed and acted upon by the social network. Even this may not be fully accurate but at the least, it could provide a fair standard for the judgment of content.

Fake news and hate speech might be the biggest challenge faced by social media, ever since Facebook stepped on the scene in 2006.