Berlin Police Raid 10 Sites In Online ‘Hate Speech’ Crackdown

Berlin police say they’ve raided 10 buildings in the German capital as part of a crackdown on hate speech on social media networks.

Police said Thursday that the morning raids involved 60 officers, who confiscated smartphones and computers as evidence, which are now being evaluated. They didn’t have any immediate information on arrests.

They say the raids are part of an ongoing investigation into hate speech spread over social media meant to incite people against asylum-seekers and refugee housing.

Berlin’s top security official, Frank Henkel, says authorities “won’t turn away if racism or incitement is being spread on the Internet.”

He says that the authorities alone can’t police hate speech online and appealed for social networks themselves to combat it more effectively.