The Facebook app logo is displayed on an iPad next to a picture of the Facebook logo on an iPhone. (Photo : Getty Images/Carl Court)
The government in Germany has been considering creating a law for the country that would enforce social media websites such as Facebook to disclose and release user data immediately upon the request of their security services.
The reason for the German government requesting such alarming information like this, according to RT, is to be able to prevent terror attacks from groups like ISIS who have been notorious lately. With this power in hand, they can immediately act upon these terror attacks when they are hinted or implied on social media.
The heavy load of this request, and on such short notice, can be alarming to the citizens who enjoy using these applications. More power means the bigger propensity for abuse. While the intentions of the German government may seem nice at first glance, there is no telling if they will really strictly obey their requests for identifying terrorists, and not for anything else.
There have already been cases like this where the German government acts on what users are posting in social media. For example, last July, the police enacted house raids across the country, according to The Verge. They have been targeting people who were accused of posting and instigating hatred on social media.
The main complaint behind this is because the current steps and procedures to obtain user data from social media companies like Facebook take too long to process. "If one photo in Germany can make it to New Delhi within less than 10 seconds, Facebook should be able to answer requests from law enforcement authorities within an hour," Die Welt quoted Thomas Kutschaty, Justice Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, as saying.
Under this new legislation, the authorities will have a more efficient and faster respondent force once security threats are made by terrorists, so that it was Facebook's obligation to make its user data accessible to the country. Aside from this, the German government is also known for its low tolerance towards hatred, racism, and discrimination.
They also expect Facebook and other various social media to be prompt when it comes to deleting content that are criminal in context. For Facebook's interest in being a clean space, it does not take too much action when things like this happen, so It should only be mandatory, according to Renate Künast. Additional details with regards to this subject can be learned from the video below.
