The SPD calls after the attack in Halle sharper measures against "hate crime on the Internet". In a nine-point paper of the SPD interior ministers are phrases like "The Internet must not be a lawless area in which the hate eats completely unprotected as an ulcer by our society." The newspapers of the editorial network Germany had first reported on the paper.
Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius had previously told the "Nordwest-Zeitung" in an interview that it was important to "bring the hate on the Internet under control": "The same consequences must threaten here, as in the analog world: Who publicly incites, threatens and offends, sows hatred and endangers our togetherness. "
In their catalog of measures, the SPD interior ministers, referring to anonymous social media postings, demand that Internet platforms should require users to be registered with their so-called inventory data. This means personal data required for the conclusion of a contract, which usually includes the common name. The SPD paper does not go into detail here. However, it expressly states that the clear name of the user does not necessarily have to be displayed in the profile of the users.
According to the ministers, the data on a user "in case of hate crime or a serious crime" would have to be passed on by the platform operator to the security authorities. For platforms that "despite the technical possibilities (...) do not want to offer effective protection against hatred," the legislature must provide "sensitive penalties" is also required.
Faster criminal proceedings desired
Criminal proceedings for illegal hate postings in the network are to be speeded up according to the will of the SPD department heads, "similar to assault on young people". The punishment must follow the deed "on the foot". In order to cope with the large number of cases, there should be specialized public prosecutors.
For "hate speech crimes" should also no longer be referenced on the private prosecution. "The Federal Minister of Justice's proposal to introduce a duty of registration of the operators of" official offenses "to the security and law enforcement authorities" is therefore "the right step", say the interior ministers.
The SPD politicians want to screw the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG). Here they see a loophole in law, as it refers to the providers of social media such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, but not to the operators of large gaming platforms.
Another proposal, which would also apply to gaming portals, is to improve child and youth protection on platforms. The idea of "identity checks on FSK-16 content (this category includes many violent movies, for example) and higher-rated online games" is brought into play. Children and adolescents would otherwise be confronted, sometimes in an uncontrolled way, with extremist and violent images of the world, "the paper says.
An eye on games platforms
This point could be combined with a plan by Family Minister Franziska Giffey. The SPD politician had told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" that she wanted to oblige the operators of gaming platforms to take protective measures. "We will launch a new youth protection law this year," said Giffey.
Providers of games platforms want to oblige them to take "child and youth issues into consideration from the very beginning, for example via corresponding presettings for contact options and possibilities for help and complaints," said the Minister of Family Affairs. Specifically, this means that certain interaction risks must be prevented or minimized from the outset by technical settings. The targeted response of young people in the net, be it with hatred and incitement or for the initiation of sexual contacts, must be "as far as possible prevented".
According to their catalog of measures, the SPD interior ministers also want to better protect local politicians from insults on the Internet. So far, the special protection against defamation and slander only refer generally to politicians, but not on mandate holders of the municipal level, it says in the paper: "Therefore, § 188 StGB should be adjusted accordingly and at the same time the penalty for such acts be increased."
The interior ministers of the 16 federal states want to discuss the consequences of the Halle attack on Friday with Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU). It is reportedly planned that the interior ministers will present joint resolutions after their special session. The next regular Conference of Interior Ministers begins on 4 December in Lübeck.
