Germany launches investigation against Mark Zuckerberg

Munich prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The reason was the statement of a lawyer from Würzburg, who claims that the leadership of the social network is not taking the necessary measures to remove records that incite hatred and contain calls for violence.

The launch of the investigation is reported by Der Spiegel. There has been no official confirmation of this information.

According to Der Spiegel, an investigation has also been launched against Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg and two of the company's lobbyists in Europe, Richard Allen and Eva-Maria Kirschsieper.

• German Justice Minister Heiko Maas earlier announced the results of an audit showing that Facebook removes less than half of the posts that users complain about. Maas said the review would last until March 2017 and threatened to take legal action if the social network's management did not review its policy on hate-inciting posts.