Twitter blocks German neo-Nazi group's account
Source: AFP |
October 19, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWITTER said yesterday it had blocked a neo-Nazi group's account at the request of German police in what it called a global first for the company.
In a move pitting censorship concerns against national laws on hate speech, Twitter said it deployed the tool developed this year to comply with the request by the German authorities.
"We announced the ability to withhold content back in January," Twitter's chief lawyer Alex Macgillivray said in a tweet posted on the website. "We're using it now for the first time re: a group deemed illegal in Germany."
In a separate tweet, Macgillivray posted a link to a letter from the police in the northern German state of Lower Saxony asking Twitter to block the account of Besseres Hannover, a far-right outfit which was outlawed last month.
The account is still visible on Twitter with the handle @hannoverticker and calling itself "Das nationale Informationsportal aus Hannover" (The national information portal from Hanover). But no message since the date of the ban, September 25, is visible in Germany, and the group's website has also been blocked or deleted.
Prosecutors in Lower Saxony have launched a probe against about 20 members of Besseres Hannover on charges of inciting racial hatred and creating a criminal organization.
In a move pitting censorship concerns against national laws on hate speech, Twitter said it deployed the tool developed this year to comply with the request by the German authorities.
"We announced the ability to withhold content back in January," Twitter's chief lawyer Alex Macgillivray said in a tweet posted on the website. "We're using it now for the first time re: a group deemed illegal in Germany."
In a separate tweet, Macgillivray posted a link to a letter from the police in the northern German state of Lower Saxony asking Twitter to block the account of Besseres Hannover, a far-right outfit which was outlawed last month.
The account is still visible on Twitter with the handle @hannoverticker and calling itself "Das nationale Informationsportal aus Hannover" (The national information portal from Hanover). But no message since the date of the ban, September 25, is visible in Germany, and the group's website has also been blocked or deleted.
Prosecutors in Lower Saxony have launched a probe against about 20 members of Besseres Hannover on charges of inciting racial hatred and creating a criminal organization.
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