Syrian refugee takes Facebook to German court over fake news pictures
Facebook is being sued by a Syrian refugee whose picture with German Chancellor Angela Merkel was used in fake news items which falsely linked him to terrorist attacks.
In 2015, Anas Modamani took a selfie (seen below) with Merkel at a refugee shelter in Berlin. The 19-year-old’s picture was later shared via multiple anonymous Facebook user accounts, which claimed he was involved in last year’s Brussels Airport bombing, and that he had torched a homeless person in a Berlin underground station.
"Some people are trying to harm the reputation of the refugees like me and they are using Facebook to spread hatred against us," Modamani was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Germany is currently engaged in preparing legislation aimed at forcing Facebook to remove "hate speech" from its site within 24 hours or face fines. The first court hearing of the case was heard on Monday and a ruling is expected on March 3.
"I saw my picture posted [on a story about the Brussels airport bombing] ... But of course, this was not me!" CNN quoted Modamani as saying. "I thought immediately: What does this mean? What about my future? This is really no joke now. This is serious."
Facebook has subsequently announced that two posts related to Modamani have been removed, but the removal of all such posts is simply impossible.
"We have already quickly disabled access to content that has been accurately reported to us by Modamani's legal representatives, so we do not believe that legal action here is necessary or that it is the most effective way to resolve the situation," said a spokesman for the social media site.
"We will continue to respond to Modamani's legal representatives in relation to any other content of concern to them," he added.
He noted that the company has asked Modamani's legal team to point out posts related to the picture for it to independently look into them.
"They have so far refused to do so despite us providing clear instructions as to the precise information that we require," said a statement released by the site.
Modamani's lawyer, Chan-jo Jun, has stressed that Facebook’s content limitations were inconsistent. “Nudity is forbidden, but hate only in certain circumstances,” he added.
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