Facebook Pushes Back as Germany Weighs Fines for Malicious Posts

Facebook Inc. defended itself against criticism in Germany that it’s not doing enough to combat hate speech and fake news, telling Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party lawmakers that ridding its platform of such content is highly complex. The social media giant takes its responsibility to fight hate speech and fake news “very seriously,” but countermeasures shouldn’t be applied with a broad brush, because that might have an undesirable impact on free speech, said Eva-Maria Kirschsieper, Facebook’s chief lobbyist in Germany, at a conference Wednesday organized by Merkel’s Christian Democrat-led caucus in Berlin.