Mark Zuckerberg Sued By German Lawyers Over Hate Speech While Making The Top 10 List For Forbes Billionaires List


Mark Zuckerberg visited Germany in an effort to put an end to the lawsuit he is facing, and it was to no avail. Zuckerberg and Facebook are being sued because of comments German lawyers say are hate speech and violate Germany’s anti-Nazi and hate speech laws. His company faces a 150 million euro fine if found guilty.

Breibart reported that Zuckerberg not only personally visited Germany, he launched a 1 million euro initiative to deal with the problems faced with hate speech on the German version of Facebook. The initiative will run alongside the European NGOs efforts to put an end to the speech against migrants. The statements have been labeled xenophobia and affect about 300 pages on the Facebook site. They included swastikas and other Nazi-related images and called for violence against migrants in Germany.

Cologne attorney Christian Solmecke and Bavaria-based lawyer Chan Jo-Jun filed the suit against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, as well as filing an additional suit against Martin Ott, who is an executive for Facebook in northern, central, and eastern Europe. Jun said that Facebook hadn’t been good for Germany.

“I think Facebook has changed German society — not for the good. The complaints created an awareness that what Facebook is doing is not just a social problem but a legal problem. I’m glad to be part of that.”

Although Facebook has strong rules against anything that looks remotely like hate speech, and they also have rules against bullying too, the lawyers said that they thought Facebook could do more to enforce those rules. European authorities are currently engaged in cracking down on hate speech on the internet, and police in the Netherlands have threatened citizens who are overly critical of immigration policy in their country.

Boston reported that Mark Zuckerberg had made it to Forbes’ top 10 billionaires list for the first time. Zuckerberg landed in the No. 6 slot with a net worth of $44.6 billion. He added $11.2 billion to his fortune and moved up a total of 11 slots on the list. Bill Gates topped the list once again as he has for the last 17 out of 22 years. Forbes‘ 30th annual World’s Billionaires Issue lists the top 1,810 people in the world who have a total net worth of $6.48 trillion.

Zuckerberg, 31, has had myriad troubles in the past few months as he was also threatened by ISIS supporters. As reported in the Daily Mail UK, Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, the CEO for Twitter, were both threatened in a 25-minute video that was released by the supporters. Titled Flames Of The Supporters, the 25 minute video, found on Vocativ, included photos of both the CEOs covered in bullet holes.

The group of ISIS supporters claimed they control 10,000 Facebook profiles, 5,000 Twitter accounts, and 150 Facebook groups. They said any attempts to drive them off the sites would result in retaliation. The video started with the following text.

“To Mark and Jack, founders of Twitter and Facebook and to their Crusader government. You announce daily that you suspend many of our accounts. And to you we say: Is that all you can do? You are not in our league.”

Facebook declined to comment on the video. There has been no word as to whether Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey have taken precautions against the threats or gave a statement.

[Photo by Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images]

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