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A bill against Facebook incitement recently passed its first reading in the Knesset.The bill would allow Israeli courts to remove online incitement from Facebook, including advertisements, and declares all incitement to be a criminal offense if it endangers a person, community, or the State of Israel.

Israel had at first negotiated with Facebook over removal of incitement but now decided to take the matter out of its hands and allow the government to act.

A similar debate is developing in Germany where the German government is threatening criminal action against Facebook if it doesn’t stem the swelling tide of racist postings, according to a Fox News report. German sources claimed that Facebook does not remove inflammatory postings unless they get complaints or does not remove them fast enough.

German law prohibits Holocaust denial, disparaging of minorities or insults towards public figures and thus the Facebook postings are in violation of Germany's criminal code. Germany is also targeting Google and Twitter in its quest to eradicate hateful postings.

Facebook defended itself by claiming that is is endeavoring to remove hateful language and that only a small fraction of postings are incendiary. Facebook even hired a German technology company to monitor and delete content that is illegal in Germany and other European countries. Six hundred people, fluent in several languages, scan the site daily.

Inciteful social media postings have increased by over 300 percent over the past year according to Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee’s office in Berlin ,who blamed the rise on anti-foreigner sentiments fueled by the influx of Muslim refugees to Germany. Berger added that there is also a rise in anti-Semitic postings on social media and a parallel rise in anti- Semitic incidents.

Not all Germans agree with the crackdown on Facebook. One journalist commented that there are no universally accepted rules as to what constitutes hateful language and attacking Facebook would restrict free speech. Others, including Anetta Kahane, chairperson of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, a German NGO that fights racism, claim that Facebook is not entirely responsible for hateful and bigoted views of Germans espoused online.

However Kahane still felt that Facebook could do more to maintain acceptable standards. “They get rid of pornography, and they should get rid of racist content.”