https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Germany in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed The German government on Wednesday approved a draft law to crack down on the far right, three weeks after a deadly attack by an alleged neo-Nazi targeting a synagogue. https://www.thelocal.de/20191030/germany-to-tighten-hate-speech-and-gun-laws-to-fight-far-right Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:33:33 +0100 germany-to-tighten-hate-speech-and-gun-laws-to-fight-far-right German FA director Oliver Bierhoff on Monday defended Germany national team players İlkay Gündoğan and Emre Can, but admitted they "made a mistake" by liking a post of Turkish footballers performing a military salute. https://www.thelocal.de/20191015/german-footballers-made-mistake-by-liking-turkish-salute-post Tue, 15 Oct 2019 10:59:16 +0200 german-footballers-made-mistake-by-liking-turkish-salute-post A new video has emerged of a mass brawl instigated by social media influencers which shocked onlookers in Berlin’s central Alexanderplatz. https://www.thelocal.de/20190408/new-video-emerges-of-youtube-brawl-at-berlins-alexanderplatz Mon, 08 Apr 2019 12:44:07 +0200 new-video-emerges-of-youtube-brawl-at-berlins-alexanderplatz Facebook announced on Friday changes to the way political advertisements are handled on the social media site ahead of the upcoming European Parliament elections. https://www.thelocal.de/20190330/facebook-to-deploy-new-transparency-tools-ahead-of-european-elections Sat, 30 Mar 2019 09:47:35 +0100 facebook-to-deploy-new-transparency-tools-ahead-of-european-elections Berlin’s central Alexanderplatz witnessed shocking scenes on Thursday when hundreds of social media users invaded the square to confront each other. Video footage has emerged of the mass brawl, which has naturally ended up on social media sites. https://www.thelocal.de/20190322/video-footage-shows-shocking-alexanderplatz-social-media-brawl Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:33:28 +0100 video-footage-shows-shocking-alexanderplatz-social-media-brawl Police at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz broke up a mass brawl between 400 fans of two rival social media ‘influencers’, making several arrests and confiscating knives in the process. https://www.thelocal.de/20190322/police-breakup-mass-social-media-brawl-as-400-descend-on-berlins-alexanderplatz Fri, 22 Mar 2019 11:08:15 +0100 police-breakup-mass-social-media-brawl-as-400-descend-on-berlins-alexanderplatz Germany must take steps to prevent online"social bots" from manipulating or hijacking sensitive political debates, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party warned Sunday. https://www.thelocal.de/20181217/merkels-whip-urges-steps-to-rein-in-social-bots Mon, 17 Dec 2018 09:40:32 +0100 merkels-whip-urges-steps-to-rein-in-social-bots The internet turned cruel for Germany fans on Thursday as online mockery swept the globe following the defending champions' shock World Cup elimination. https://www.thelocal.de/20180628/hahaha-schadenfreude-sweeps-web-after-german-downfall Thu, 28 Jun 2018 12:28:18 +0200 hahaha-schadenfreude-sweeps-web-after-german-downfall Germany lurched into a brief panic on Friday as several media outlets fell for a satirical tweet that claimed Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition had collapsed in a bitter row over immigration. https://www.thelocal.de/20180615/satirical-tweet-about-collapse-of-merkels-coalition-prompts-brief-panic-in-germany Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:45:32 +0200 satirical-tweet-about-collapse-of-merkels-coalition-prompts-brief-panic-in-germany German car parts supplier Continental on Tuesday said it was banning the use of WhatsApp and Snapchat on work-issued mobile phones "with immediate effect" because of data protection concerns. https://www.thelocal.de/20180605/continental-bans-whatsapp-and-snapchat-from-work-phones Tue, 05 Jun 2018 13:09:06 +0200 continental-bans-whatsapp-and-snapchat-from-work-phones A leading politician from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party warned Monday that Facebook's dominance makes competition "impossible", joining a broadside against the social network from Berlin. https://www.thelocal.de/20180423/people-should-be-able-to-message-from-facebook-to-twitter-like-with-phone-companies-german-mp Mon, 23 Apr 2018 14:42:57 +0200 people-should-be-able-to-message-from-facebook-to-twitter-like-with-phone-companies-german-mp Germany is the latest country to demand answers from Facebook after it emerged data from 50 million users was used to inform targeted election campaigns. German Justice Minister Katharina Barley on Thursday called such methods "a danger to democracy." https://www.thelocal.de/20180322/german-justice-minister-demands-meeting-with-facebook-scandal-cambridge-analytica Thu, 22 Mar 2018 13:24:33 +0100 german-justice-minister-demands-meeting-with-facebook-scandal-cambridge-analytica Saarland unveiled some 400 of its own emojis, so-called ‘Saarmojis,’ on Tuesday in Saarbrücken. https://www.thelocal.de/20180314/saarmojis-saarland-the-first-german-state-with-its-own-emojis Wed, 14 Mar 2018 11:19:01 +0100 saarmojis-saarland-the-first-german-state-with-its-own-emojis German prosecutors said on Monday they were dropping a case into whether Facebook bosses including Mark Zuckerberg were condoning hate speech online. https://www.thelocal.de/20180227/prosecutors-drop-case-against-facebook Tue, 27 Feb 2018 09:45:51 +0100 prosecutors-drop-case-against-facebook A German court has found Facebook is breaching data protection rules with privacy settings that over-share by default and by requiring users to give real names, a consumer rights organisation said Monday. https://www.thelocal.de/20180212/facebook-cant-force-germans-to-use-their-real-names-court-rules Mon, 12 Feb 2018 16:03:32 +0100 facebook-cant-force-germans-to-use-their-real-names-court-rules The Association of German Journalists accused the Alternative for Germany (AfD) of opening their own propaganda wing, after Focus magazine reported on Thursday that the far-right party are to set up their own newsroom in Berlin. https://www.thelocal.de/20180209/afd-to-launch-its-own-newsroom-in-spring-to-strengthen-media-relations-report Fri, 09 Feb 2018 12:21:52 +0100 afd-to-launch-its-own-newsroom-in-spring-to-strengthen-media-relations-report A jury of linguists has chosen the word “influencer” as the Anglicism of the Year for 2017. https://www.thelocal.de/20180130/an-enrichment-of-german-language-influencer-is-anglicism-of-the-year Tue, 30 Jan 2018 12:25:08 +0100 an-enrichment-of-german-language-influencer-is-anglicism-of-the-year The Alternative for Germany party started 2018 by railing against "barbaric, Muslim, gang-raping hordes", ending months of relative post-election calm and any remaining doubt about its hardening far-right course. https://www.thelocal.de/20180110/afd-hardens-radical-anti-muslim-course Wed, 10 Jan 2018 14:14:18 +0100 afd-hardens-radical-anti-muslim-course The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Monday formally cautioned one of its lawmakers over a tweet calling tennis star Boris Becker's son a "little half-negro". https://www.thelocal.de/20180108/far-right-afd-warns-deputy-over-racial-slur-on-boris-beckers-son Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:25:15 +0100 far-right-afd-warns-deputy-over-racial-slur-on-boris-beckers-son Germany's justice minister fell victim to the rules he himself championed against online social media when one of his tweets was deleted following several complaints, Bild daily reported on Monday. Critics accuse the new law of stifling freedom of speech. https://www.thelocal.de/20180108/justice-minister-falls-victim-to-own-social-media-censorship-law Mon, 08 Jan 2018 12:24:33 +0100 justice-minister-falls-victim-to-own-social-media-censorship-law