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Mass Shooting Adds Urgency to Merkel’s Push to Curb Hate Speech

  • This week’s racist attack could speed passage of tighter rules
  • New law would require tech companies to report abuse
A German police investigator works outside "La votre" cafe bar, that was targeted in a shooting at the Heumarkt in the centre of Hanau, on Feb. 21.

A German police investigator works outside "La votre" cafe bar, that was targeted in a shooting at the Heumarkt in the centre of Hanau, on Feb. 21.

Photographer: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has long sought to eliminate hate speech and fake news from websites such as Facebook and Twitter. A shooting near Frankfurt this week that left 11 people dead -- by a far-right activist who published a racist screed online before the incident -- has added momentum to those efforts.

While freedom of speech is important, “we need to make clear where the limits are,” said Merkel’s Justice Minister, Christine Lambrecht.

A few hours before the shooting on Wednesday, Merkel’s Cabinet approved a law that would force the likes of Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to report hate speech on their platforms to police. The measure “is supposed to dry out the breeding ground” of rancor, Lambrecht told reporters in Berlin.