Mark Zuckerberg praised Germany for their “inspiring” refugee policies during a visit to the country and reiterated his commitment to combating “hate speech” on Facebook.

Speaking at a town hall event in Berlin, the 31-year old billionaire said German leadership in the refugee crisis has been “insipiring” and a “role model for the world.”

“I hope other countries follow Germany’s lead on this,” he added. “I hope the U.S. follows Germany’s lead on this.”

Speaking at the same event, Zuckerberg also emphasised his commitment to tackling “hate speech” on Facebook.

“Hate speech has no place on Facebook and in our community,” he said. “Until recently in Germany I don’t think we were doing a good enough job, and I think we will continue needing to do a better and better job.”

Zuckerberg added that the company would place a special priority on tackling hate speech against migrants. Facebook’s policies, he said, would “now include hate speech against migrants as an important part of what we just now have no tolerance for.”

Germany has been exerting considerable pressure on Facebook to co-operate with them to remove alleged “hate speech” against migrants on the platform. In September, German chancellor Angela Merkel was caught on tape at a luncheon event pressing Zuckerberg on the issue.

Since then, Facebook has dramatically expanded its anti-hate speech efforts, launching a new initiative to combat “racist and xenophobic” material on social media alongside European NGOs this January. Facebook is also cooperating with a task force set up by the Germany Justice Ministry to hunt down alleged racists on the platform.

The Germany government is taking a hard line against online critics of its refugee policies. In September, it emerged that the government had hired an organization led by a former Stasi agent to patrol Facebook for allegedly xenophobic comments.

With discontent at Angela Merkel’s refugee policies — which the Gatestone Institute links directly to the rape epidemic currently sweeping Germany — at an all time high, the government has found a valuable ally in the Facebook CEO. As we’ve previously highlighted at Breitbart Tech, the power of Facebook to monitor the lives and conversations of ordinary Germans is greater than the Stasi’s ever was.

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