Facebook, Google, Twitter Agree to Delete Hate Speech in 24 Hours: Germany

Germany said on Tuesday that Facebook, Google and Twitter have agreed to delete hate speech from their websites within 24 hours, a new step in the fight against rising online racism following the refugee crisis.

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The new agreement makes it easier for users and anti-racism groups to report hate speech to specialist teams at the three companies, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said.

“When the limits of free speech are trespassed, when it is about criminal expressions, sedition, incitement to carry out criminal offences that threaten people, such content has to be deleted from the net,” Maas said. “And we agree that as a rule this should be possible within 24 hours.”

Germany last month launched an investigation into the European head of Facebook over its alleged failure to remove racist hate speech.

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