Germany’s new hate speech law immediately causes collateral damage

Hate speech laws are a terrible idea, a fact that’s reaffirmed every time a new law comes into effect. Not only is criminalizing specific types of speech based entirely on whom it targets an affront to the idea of free expression, worse is that it puts the onus for defining what is or isn’t “hateful” at any given moment on the government, whom I’d hope even the most stalwart liberals recognize doesn’t have a sterling track record on the matter.

The latest example comes from Germany, where a new hate speech law came into effect at the start of the new year, and what a law it is: At the behest of the German government and whatever definition of “hate speech” they prefer, US-based social media companies like Facebook and Twitter must remove any posts deemed “hateful” within 24 hours or face up to €50 million in fines (and even individual employees can be fined €5 million for not nuking “illegal” posts fast enough). That timeframe leaves companies with zero margin for analyzing whether a flagged post is actually illegal or not, and that’s not mentioning the fact that social media platforms have a generally terrible history when it comes to dealing with “offensive” material, anyway.

With a law this draconian and ill-thought-out, the only question was when, not if, it would start targeting innocents. And less than a week into the new year, we already got our answer.

A German satirical magazine’s Twitter account was blocked after it parodied anti-Muslim comments, the publication said on Wednesday, in what the national journalists association said showed the downside of a new law against online hate speech.

Titanic magazine was mocking Beatrix von Storch, a member of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who accused police of trying “to appease the barbaric, Muslim, rapist hordes of men” by putting out a tweet in Arabic.

Twitter briefly suspended her account and prosecutors are examining if her comments amount to incitement to hatred.

Titanic magazine published its send-up late on Tuesday, in a tweet purporting to be from von Storch to the police, saying: “The last thing that I want is mollified barbarian, Muslim, gang-raping hordes of men.”

[…]

“We are shocked,” Titanic editor Tim Wolff said on the magazine’s website, adding that Chancellor Angela Merkel and Justice Minister Heiko Maas had promised that the new law would not have this kind of effect.

Honestly, I too am shocked to see there’s been collateral damage … this fast. I would’ve expected it to take at least a week or two, possibly a month. You certainly can’t accuse the new process of being too slow … though you can, and should, call it the consequence of terrible legislation written by short-sighted, undemocratic fools. And with collateral damage this soon into the law’s existence, it doesn’t bode well for the future of free expression in Germany.

(via Techdirt)