German prosecutors investigate Facebook over hate speech

Social media giants Facebook are currently under the scrutiny of German prosecutors who are investigating the Mark Zuckerberg led platform over hate speech accusations.

The probe follows a complaint alleging the company broke national laws against hate speech and sedition by failing to remove racist postings.

A spokesman for the Munich prosecutor’s office declined on Friday to provide further details. German attorney Chan-jo Jun had filed a complaint with prosecutors in the Bavarian city in September and demanded that Facebook executives be compelled to comply with anti-hate speech laws by deleting racist or violent postings from its site.

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Prosecutors in Hamburg earlier this year rejected a similar complaint by Jun on the grounds that the regional court lacked jurisdiction because Facebook’s European operations are based in Ireland.

“There is a different view in Bavaria,” his firm Jun Lawyers of Wuerzburg in Bavaria said in a statement.
“Upon Jun’s request, Bavarian Justice Minister Winfried Bausback said that Hamburg’s view was wrong and German law does indeed apply to some of the offences,” it said.

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