Facebook may be forced to pay for police call-outs

Published on 11/08/2012 00:00

GERMAN politicians are considering legislation that would make Facebook pay for police operations when officers are called out to break up parties 
advertised on its network.

“A commercial internet platform that makes something like this possible also carries a large measure of responsibility,” said Reinhold Gall, interior minister of Baden-Württemberg.

“Facebook does not meet its responsibilities to protect its users, if the only difference between an invitation to friends and the whole world is just one mouse-click,” Bavarian minister Joachim Herrmann added. “Face-book has a duty to protect its users and the public with preventative measures.”

Some mass parties descended into chaos when hosts did not realise their invitations had reached the entire network. One youth who invited 1,500 people to a rave-up at Lake Constance was fined £200,000 after a massive police operation to stop it going ahead.