A prominent German environmental organization announced Wednesday that it is suing Facebook’s parent company Meta for repeated death threats directed at its employees on the social network.
Environmental Action Germany, also known as DUH in German, claims Meta has failed to take action to stop the regular threats of violence directed at DUH director Juergen Resch and others in a Facebook group with over 50,000 members.
DUH has run high-profile campaigns demanding that German cities enforce air quality regulations by prohibiting certain polluting vehicles. This has enraged car enthusiasts.
In a statement, Meta stated that it actively works to prevent hate speech on its platforms.
“We are constantly investing in technology and reporting tools to identify and remove hate speech even faster,” the company said. “We have removed the content that was reported to us in this case.”
Renate Kuenast, a German lawmaker, won a case against Facebook last year, ordering the company to remove fake quotes attributed to her from its website and pay damages. The ruling is being appealed by Facebook.
