On Twitter, netizens claim that Elon Musk’s company has been fined $30 billion for violating hate speech laws in Germany. The information has been circulating since April 12, and Internet users more specifically refer to the company’s repeated “systemic failures” to comply with German laws on “hate speech”.
However, the $30 billion figure was taken out of context and the company was not fined that amount by the German government.
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Earlier this month, the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) in Germany did announce that it had initiated proceedings against Twitter under the Network Law Enforcement Act (NetzDG), alleging that it had “sufficient indications of a systemic complaint handling failure” on the platform.
The Federal Office stated: “The provider of Twitter is subject to the provisions of the NetzDG. The BfJ has sufficient evidence to believe that it has violated the legal obligation to deal with complaints relating to illegal content and that there is a systemic failure in the handling of complaints by the provider, which is liable of a fine. »
TechCrunch was one of the first news outlets to report on the April 4 press release, writing at the time: “Even in Germany, if the BfJ were to act on the more than 600 cases of illegal hate speech that have already reported, Twitter could face fines of up to €30 billion, based on the maximum penalties under the NetzDG law. TechCrunch estimates that if Twitter is found guilty of violating German law, fines could run into the billions of dollars.
And that’s where the nuance lies. According to the German authorities, the procedure against Twitter is still ongoing and therefore no fine of 30 billion dollars has been imposed on the company. If convicted at the end of the investigation, Twiitter could indeed be fined, but the sum is still unknown.