German Daily Documents Anti-Migrant Hate Speech on Facebook

Germany’s top-selling Bild daily Tuesday documented racist vitriol against migrants posted by Facebook users in a double-page newspaper spread, as pressure grows on the social network to eliminate hate speech.

A day after thousands of anti-Muslim PEGIDA protesters and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators rallied in the eastern city of Dresden, Bild published dozens of anti-migrant rants under the headline “The Pillory of Shame”.

Facebook “agitators” posted xenophobic and threatening comments, which Bild urged the prosecutor general to investigate.

{snip}

As Germany has seen increasingly angry street protests, attacks on asylum shelters and a knife attack against a pro-refugee politician last Saturday, lawmakers have warned that inflammatory speech can spur violence.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas warned last month that Facebook must not “become a funfair for the far right” and stressed that the US company must delete posts that violate German laws against incitement of racial hatred or violence.

{snip}

On Monday, prosecutors in the northern city of Hamburg said they were investigating a complaint against three Facebook managers alleging that they failed to act against racist comments posted by users.

{snip}