Twitter was not fined $30 billion by authorities in Germany
The figure of $30 billion was taken out of context
CLAIM: Reports emerged on Twitter that the company was fined $30 billion for allegedly violating hate speech laws in Germany.
RATING: However, the figure of $30 billion was taken out of context and the company had not been fined that amount by the German government.
BACKGROUND
On April 12, several organisations reported that Elon Musk’s Twitter has been fined $30 billion in Germany over the company's repeated “systemic failures” to comply with Germany’s “hate speech” laws.
"Elon Musk's Twitter has been fined with $30 billion in Germany (which is more than Twitter is currently worth) over Twitter's repeated 'systemic failures' to comply with Germany's 'hate speech' laws," tweeted @ThePopTingz.
The news quickly spread across social media, with individual users sharing the details of the alleged fine.
METHOD
Earlier this month, the Federal Justice Office (BfJ) in Germany announced it initiated proceedings against Twitter under the country’s Network Enforcement Act (aka, NetzDG) on the grounds that it had "sufficient indications" of systemic failure of complaint management on the platform.
"The provider of Twitter is subject to the provisions of the NetzDG . The BfJ has sufficient indications that it has violated the legal obligation to deal with complaints about illegal content and that this is a systemic failure in the complaint management of the provider, which is subject to a fine;" the BfJ said.
According to the BfJ, the office "has now given the provider of Twitter the opportunity to comment on the allegation of a systemic failure of the complaint management." It added, if the BfJ came "to the conclusion that the accusation of illegal behaviour is still justified, the BfJ will apply to the Bonn district court to initiate preliminary ruling proceedings and at the same time present the provider's statement."
One of the news organisations to report on the April 4 press release was TechCrunch, which wrote at the time: "Even just in Germany if the BfJ were to act on the 600+ illegal hate speech cases that have already been reported to it that could sum to fines of up to €30 billion for Twitter, based on the maximum penalties set out in the NetzDG law."
TechCrunch speculated that if Twitter was found to have violated the act, the fines could be in the billions of dollars.
Using the official statement released by German authorities, we can conclude that the process against Twitter is ongoing and no fine of $30 billion for allegedly violating hate speech laws in Germany has been issued to the company.
RATING: The reports on social media are false and the figure of $30 billion is based on speculation by TechCrunch. Twitter has not been fined by the German government.