Free Speech Concerns Swirl as Germans Fight Online Hate

The Takeaway | Jan 2, 2018

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The German government recently passed a new law that cracks down on hate speech on social media. As of this week, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have 24 hours to take down posts containing speech deemed illegal by German law. One far-right member of parliament has already had her Twitter account suspended for anti-Muslim rhetoric, under the rules.

But how far could this crackdown go? And who’s going to comb through the hundreds of thousands of posts to actually enforce this?

David Kaye, a law professor at UC Irvine and the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, discusses the specifics of the law, its potential consequences, and how it compares to the debate on free speech in the U.S.

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich

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