Germany Vs Facebook / Peace In Syria

The Irish Times World View Podcast

Back in 2015 at the height of the migrant crisis in Europe, Chancellor Angela Merkel met Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and asked him what was being done about false reports on refugees appearing on his social network. He said he was working on it. But in 2017 the issue of 'fake news' is seen as an ever-greater threat to centrist politics. A general election will take place in Germany this year and some there fear that false reports on social media platforms will be used as a weapon in that campaign, as it was seen to be in the bruising US presidential election. On today's World View podcast our Berlin correspondent Derek Scally looks at the issue. What changes does the German government expect from social media platforms? And picking up another theme of the digital age, we look at moves in France to ban after-hours contact between employers and employees. Also on the podcast, our Middle East correspondent Michael Jansen on the prospects for peace in Syria in 2017 in the wake of the fall of Aleppo. Who are the main players now, and where do their loyalties really lie?