With just 10 days to go before Germany’s parliamentary elections – where the handling of the pandemic by Angela Merkel’s goverment will come under scrutiny – Facebook said it had “removed a network of Facebook and Instagram accounts” linked to the so-called “Querdenker” or Lateral Thinker movement. The pages posted “harmful health misinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence”, the social media giant said in a statement. READ ALSO: Germany’s spy agency to monitor ‘Querdenker’ Covid scepticsIt loosely groups together activists from both the far-right and far-left of the political spectrum, conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. And some of their rallies have descended into violence. Social media platforms regularly face accusations that they help propagate misinformation and disinformation, particularly with regard to the pandemic and vaccines.

Source: The Local September 17, 2021 07:07 UTC