German domestic spy agency hits out at Silicon Valley

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency accused US tech giants like Facebook on Monday of failing to take enough responsibility for content on their sites, undermining democracy by not distinguishing between fact and opinion. “Today we are discovering a ‘fifth estate’ that makes claims but up until now does not want to take any social responsibility,” Hans-Georg Maassen said. Maassen said he was pleased that there had been no major hacking or suspicious news leaks ahead of Germany’s election in September