German prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Facebook's European head due to complaints that the social media platform is not removing posts containing hate speech related to the country's influx of refugees.
Under German law, anyone who makes a public comment that incites hatred or violence against a person on the grounds of ethnicity or religion can face up to three years in prison. Under the same law, a person can be imprisoned for attacking the "human dignity of a person or group of people by insulting that group." Politicians have grown concerned that hate speech, and even outbreaks of violence, are growing throughout Germany, with the country preparing to receive more than one million asylum seekers by the end of the year.