Technology

The Court in Wuerzburg Ruled Against Anas Modamani, Favoring Facebook

The Syrian refugee, Anas Modamani’s appeal against Facebook of fake news rules out against him. The court says that Facebook didn’t initiate the fake new neither gave it a hype.

On Feb. 6, Anas Modamani filed a case against the social media giant Facebook after a series of fake news went viral. His photo with the Chancellor Angela Merkel was re-posted on several pages calling him a terrorist.

The district court, Wuerzburg, on Tuesday, stated that Facebook was never directly involved in spreading the fake news. The court ruled out the case with a prompt statement with clear indications that Facebook was never the “perpetrator nor a participant” of the “undisputable defamation”.

In the hearing, Facebook stated that it was impossible to filter such fake news prior to reporting them. The company is, however, in the process of creating a filtering system which would help them from being dragged to such more cases.

Modamani’s lawyer, Chan-jo Jun seems unhappy with the court’s decision and called Facebook’s argument to be “ridiculous”. Jun claimed that even after reporting the false news, Facebook denied to take it down. The social media company said that it didn’t violate any community standards.

Following the ruling, a spokesperson for Facebook told New York Time:

We appreciate that this is a very difficult situation for Mr. Modamani. Regarding the ruling, we are pleased that the court shares our view that the legal action initiated was not merited or the most effective way to resolve the situation.

This is not the first time for Facebook facing legal threats. One such news was seen when allegations raised by Germany in failing to remove another incident of hate speech.

Following the ruling, the young Syrian refugee has been given a chance to appeal within one of its publication. Jun told that he would consult the matter with his client that whether he wishes to appeal against this ruling or not.

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Cover Image: News Max