Refugee who posed for selfie with Merkel sues Facebook

A Syrian refugee called Anas Modamani, who lives in Germany, is suing Facebook for defamation after posts on the social network falsely linked him to a series of terrorist attacks across Europe.

The allegations started after Anas Modamani, 19, posted a selfie taken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the site in September 2015.

The photo he had taken on his mobile phone, as well as a press agency photographer's shot of him taking the selfie, went viral and "became defining images of the German response to the refugee crisis", says The Guardian.

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However, in the months after his photograph was uploaded, it was used to spread false information connecting Modamani to numerous terrorist attacks in Europe.

"I was first linked to attacks when my picture was circulated as being one of the Brussels attackers due to perceived resemblances between us," Modamani told BBC, referring to the Brussels bombing attacks in March 2016 which killed 32 civilians.

"When the claims started being circulated on social media, I was in Munich visiting friends. Some friends advised that I stay at home and avoid going out in public, which I did.

"Others encouraged me to go to the police and report what was being said about me. But I kind of just hoped it would go away on its own."

However, last December, Modamani was again the target of accusations linking him to criminal activity. First, his face appeared on posts linking him to the lorry attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people, and then to the attempted murder of a homeless man by a group of migrants in the city later that month.

Chan-jo Jun, a lawyer who filed a separate complaint in November alleging that Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerburg had failed to remove racist posts, has taken on the case.

"Facebook is doing a very poor job with fake news, but it is especially doing a poor job with illegal fake news," he told the BBC.

"Not all fake news is illegal, but where it amounts to slander, as I believe this does, then it should be taken down."

Jun has filed an injunction "seeking to prevent Facebook from publishing the slanderous image of the Syrian refugee Anas Modamani in the context of terrorist attacks".