As of yesterday, Germany began to enforce its anti-hate speech and illegal content law (“NetzDG”), originally passed in mid-2017. It targets publishers and social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube, that have more than 2 million members or users.
The law, translated as the Network Enforcement Act, requires “obviously illegal” material to be removed within 24 hours after the site owner is notified of the violation. In more complex or gray area cases, there’s a seven-day time frame. Fines for non-compliance could be up to 50 million euros, which is roughly $60 million.
