Thread: Facebook begins Europe-wide campaign against "extremist" posts against refugees

Facebook begins Europe-wide campaign against extremist posts

BERLIN


A man poses with a magnifier in front of a Facebook logo on display in this illustration taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 16, 2015.
Reuters/Dado Ruvic



Facebook Inc (FB.O) began a Europe-wide campaign on Monday to thwart extremist posts on social media, after German politicians in particular raised concerns about a rise in xenophobic comments linked to an influx of refugees.
The U.S.-based group launched its "Initiative for Civil Courage Online" in Berlin, pledging over 1 million euros (1 million pounds) to support non-governmental organisations in their efforts to counter racist and xenophobic posts.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said hate speech "has no place in our society", including in the Internet.
Facebook's ground rules forbid bullying, harassment and threatening language, but critics say it does not enforce them properly.
On Friday, the firm said it had hired a unit of the publisher Bertelsmann to monitor and delete racist posts on its platform in Germany.
In November, prosecutors in Hamburg launched an investigation into Facebook on suspicion of not doing enough to prevent the dissemination of hate speech.
Top German politicians and celebrities have voiced concern about the rise of anti-foreigner comments on Facebook and other social media as the country struggles to cope with a tide of new migrants that amounted to 1.1 million last year alone.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Facebook to do more, and the Justice Ministry set up a task force with Facebook and other social networks and Internet service providers with the aim of identifying criminal posts more quickly and taking them down.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-eur...-idUKKCN0UW25E

Caught on a "hot mike"

After Merkel briefly queried Zuckerberg about the hate-post affair, the Facebook CEO is heard responding that “we need to do some work” on the issue.
“Are you working on this?” Merkel asked in English. “Yeah,” Zuckerberg responded, before the dialog was cut off by introductory remarks to those present.

http://www.alipac.us/f9/merkel-confr...-posts-323783/