海角大神

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday in Berlin that he recognized that more on 鈥渉ate speech鈥� against migrants.

In response to the refugee crisis in Europe, and the resulting anti-migrant Facebook postings by neo-Nazi sympathizers, the social media platform hired 200 German employees to monitor the site.

At a Friday meeting attended by more than 1,000 Germans in Berlin, Mr. Zuckerberg told attendees that although it had not previously considered migrants a protected class, such as racial minorities, the platform was willing to admit its mistake.

"Learning more about German culture and German law has led us to change our approach on that," . "This is always a work in progress. I'm not going to claim up here today that we're perfect, we're definitely not."

Facebook opened an office in Berlin last month. According to the German news outlet Deutsche Welle,聽聽German users. Reuters reports that the number is closer to 21 million.

Facebook has been in discussions about privacy and hate speech with Germany for months. Last summer, it announced that it would conform to Germany鈥檚 strict hate speech laws and attempt to take down racist posts within a day.

In September, Facebook announced that it would work with the German Justice Ministry to crack down on anti-migrant posts. , social media users who incite hatred or violence against an ethnic or religious group can be punished by up to three years in jail.

鈥淚f people, using their own name, incite hatred against other people, not only the government has to act, but also Facebook should do something against those statements,鈥� German Chancellor .

Prosecuters in Hamburg have against Facebook鈥檚 Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe managing director, Martin Ott. They say that he hasn鈥檛 done enough to stem the tide of hate speech.

Facebook has also pledged more than $1 million dollars of support to the , which also enjoys support from the German Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection and a variety of nonprofits and non-governmental organizations.

鈥淲e have repeatedly emphasized that Facebook is no place for the dissemination of xenophobia, hate speech or calls for violence,鈥� said Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg of the Online Civil Courage Initiative. 鈥淲ith this new initiative, we are convinced to better understand and respond to the challenges of extremist speech on the internet.鈥�

Zuckerberg must confront some of the same issues in the United States that he did in Germany. This past week, Zuckerberg issued an internal Facebook memo censuring employees for replacing Black Lives Matter statements on walls at company headquarters with 鈥淎ll Lives Matter.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e never had rules around what people can write on our walls,鈥� . 鈥淲e expect everybody to treat each other with respect.鈥�

Whenever speech restrictions arise, so do questions of free speech. The US Supreme Court first when it heard a case on First Amendment laws and Facebook posts after a Pennsylvania man reportedly threatened his estranged wife through rap lyrics posted on a Facebook wall.

Zuckerberg has stated that crossing out 鈥淏lack Lives Matter鈥� amounts to restricting others鈥� speech. In Germany, Justice Minister Heiko Maas indicated that goes 鈥渂eyond the bounds of free speech,鈥� and should therefore be restricted.

Free speech advocates may still have compaints. But as University of Virginia law professor Douglas Laycock tells 海角大神 by e-mail, 鈥渋t can impose any limits its market will stand for.鈥�