Times of Suriname

German far-right MP investigat­ed over anti-Muslim social media posts

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GERMANY - A far-right German MP is being investigat­ed over comments made on social media after she accused Cologne police who tweeted a New Year message in Arabic of appeasing “barbaric, gangraping Muslim hordes of men”.

Beatrix von Storch, the deputy leader of Germany’s AfD party, was also temporaril­y suspended from Twitter and Facebook on Monday as a new hate speech law forcing social media companies to remove content came into force on 1 January. The Cologne police’s New Year message was also tweeted in other languages, including English, French and German, alongside Arabic. The authoritie­s are considerin­g whether Von Storch should be charged with incitement to hatred, a criminal offence.

Her Twitter account was suspended for 12 hours over her post. Under the new Netzwerkdu­rchsetzung­sgesetz law also known as NetzDG – social media firms face fines of up to €50m if they do not remove “obviously illegal” hate speech and other postings within 24 hours of receiving a notificati­on. Critics of the law, which was conceived by the Social Democrat-run justice ministry, say it will place censorship decisions that require legal training at the whim of technology companies.

(Theguardia­n.com)

 ??  ?? New Year revellers bundle up against the cold in Times Square, New York. (Photo: EPA)
New Year revellers bundle up against the cold in Times Square, New York. (Photo: EPA)

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