Germany imposes heavy fines for online hate speech

Berlin : Germany's parliament voted Friday to punish social media giants with fines of up to 50 million euros ($57 million) if they systematically fail to remove illegal hate speech.

Berlin took the measure, one of the toughest in the world, after a surge in racist and incendiary speech online, particularly since the arrival of around one million asylum-seekers since 2015.

Under German law, Holocaust denial, incitement of hatred, and racist and anti-Semitic speech are illegal. 

But critics warned that the prohibitive fines would stifle legitimate free speech by prompting online giants like Twitter and Facebook to excessively delete and censor posts as a precaution. 

They also said it would give social networks, rather than the authorities, the power to decide which content flouts the law.

But Justice Minister Heiko Maas argued that "freedom of opinion ends where criminal law begins".

"Death threats and insults, incitement to hate or (Holocaust denial) are not part of freedom of expression -- rather, they are attacks against other people's freedom of opinion," Maas said in a statement before the bill passed the lower house on the last day of the session.

"They are intended to intimidate and mute others," he said.