Social media apps - PixabayCAIRO – 3 January 2018: The impacts of social media on citizens are exaggerated, especially since people mainly depend on them to know world news. The problem is that social media does not distinguish between facts and fake news that could sometimes incite violence and hatred, which has urged countries to take a stand against it.The German Parliament approved on June 30 a law aiming to put an end to any hate speech, criminal materials and fake news on social networks. The law requires social media to block all illegal offensive content.Under the law, if social media companies fail to block offensive content until the end of 2017, they will pay fines of up to £50 million ($43 million).Since 2015, Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas has campaigned to urge tech giants to block hate speech. Such campaigns have spiked as hate speech spreads on social media including Google, Facebook and Twitter, which have become a battleground for angry debates on Germany’s refugee influx.Since the beginning of 2018, Germany is set to start enforcing a law that demands social media to quickly remove hate speech.The United Kingdom also has been active in dealing with violence and hatred online. A parliamentary report was released on May 1 calling for escalating sanctions that should include meaningful fines for social media companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook.On the other hand, France has ordered WhatsApp and Facebook to stop sharing users’ data.

Source: Egypt Today January 03, 2018 17:03 UTC