Refugee loses case against Facebook

Facebook won dismissal of a lawsuit involving a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a Syrian refugee that raised questions about the social network’s duty to remove racist comments by its users.

A German court in the city of Wuerzburg rejected an emergency bid by the refugee to force the company to block any post featuring the picture or repeating offensive statements that often accompanied the photograph. The judges said the country’s laws for content providers did not currently apply to internet platforms such as Facebook and legislators would need to change the rules to give 19-year-old Anas Modamani the relief he sought.

The picture of Modamani and Merkel has become an emblem of the chancellor’s refugee policies. Modamani’s lawyer told the court it was posted by numerous users who had added libelous statements about his client, including falsely alleging he had taken part in terror attacks or had been responsible for the attempted murder of a homeless person.

“Facebook didn’t adopt the statements and the postings as its own opinion,” presiding Judge Volkmar Seipel said after delivering the ruling.

“It’s not Facebook that’s claiming these things when users are uploading the picture.”

Modamani’s lawyer, Chan-jo Jun, urged politicians to draft new laws that would give additional protections to victims of hate speech.

“We need to decide whether to allow Facebook to do whatever it wants — to keep anything online that elicits traffic,” he said after the ruling.

Menlo Park, California-based Facebook said that it understands that “this is a very difficult situation for Modamani” and stressed that it was quickly blocking any posts “accurately” flagged by Jun.