German, EU politicians talk tough punishments for fake news
EU Parliament President Martin Schulz and Germany's Justice Minister Heiko Maas both came out swinging against fake news on Sunday.
In separate press interviews, the two German politicians discussed concrete plans to create laws banning platforms like Facebook from spreading fabricated stories presented as real news, something both men saw as harmful to democracy.
"We need a systematic legal framework," Maas told the "Bild am Sonntag" newspaper. His ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) and coalition partners the Social Democrats (SPD) have already announced their intention to craft new legislation to stop the dissemination of fake news in January.
Martin Schulz offered a more concrete plan, saying that to combat the subversion of democracy that occurs when foreign interests create fake viral stories, "not only a national, but a European" solution was necessary. To that end, Schulz suggested that laws should target outlets such as Facebook, where much of fake news is spread.
Fake news also violated personal rights, said Schulz in an interview with papers from the Funke news consortium. "I support protecting victims by means of prosecution," said the SPD lawmaker.
Schulz proposed that Facebook set up a 24-hour hotline to report fake news and harmful bots, and face penalties if the problems were not dealt with in a timely manner. He slammed the idea put forward by some tech companies that they were merely conduits.
"The great reach of social networks creates a considerable responsibility on their part," said Schulz.
http://www.dw.com/en/german-eu-politicians-talk-tough-punishments-for-fake-news/a-36816135
