Facebook fined for violating German transparency law

Facebook fined for violating German transparency law

German authorities have fined Facebook 2 million euros ($2.26 million) for providing a distorted picture of the amount of illegal content on the social media platform, a violation of the country’s law on internet transparency.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Federal Office of Justice, a judicial agency, said that by transmitting incomplete information regarding the complaints it had received, the web giant created a distorted picture.

“The fine particularly reflects the fact that, in its reports, the number of complaints relating to illegal content is incomplete,” the office said. “That creates a distorted public picture of the scale of the illegal content, and the manner in which the network deals with it.”