On Thursday 28 September, the European Commission warned multinational digital giants that it was prepared to introduce legislation in 2018 if their efforts to withdraw illegal content remained insufficient.
During a press conference, the following European Commissioners: Andrus Ansip (Single Digital Market), Věra Jourová (Justice), Julian King (Security) and Mariya Gabriel (Digital Economy) presented a communication and guidelines that should help these platforms withdraw this content on either hate speech or terrorist radicalisation.
They gave major companies such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as more smaller operators, until May 2018 to apply these principles. If they fail to do so, they could be subject to stricter rules or sanctions, explained Justice Commissioner, Věra Jourová. According to the latter, these companies have a “Social responsibility” they must assume. Nonetheless, she said that she was confident about the companies would be able to self-regulate, which the Commission will therefore check in May 2018.
In practice, the Commission is proposing practical tools to fight illegal content and respond rapidly by way of, for example, reporting procedures and more rapid withdrawal. In its red lines, it points out that it intends to: include this as part of respect for the freedom of expression and not to specifically define illegal content. This definition will be provided by European or national legislation in force, explained Andrus Ansip.
The guidelines also call on the online platforms to further cooperate with the national authorities in the detection and reporting of the content in question. These platforms will have to establish points of contact, “to ensure they can be contacted rapidly to remove illegal content”.
To speed up detection, “online platforms are encouraged to work closely with trusted flaggers, i.e. specialised entities with expert knowledge on what constitutes illegal content”, explains the Commission. Additionally, they should establish easily accessible mechanisms to allow users to flag illegal content and to invest in automatic detection technologies.
To ensure "effective" removal, the Commission is proposing specific timeframes. It has already encouraged this initiative as part of the code of conduct for the major players in the digital sector, such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and for which it will also be presenting a second annual balance sheet at the beginning of December (see EUROPE 11683).
The question of fixed removal timeframes will be the subject of a more thorough analysis by the Commission. The platforms will have to clearly explain their policy to their users with regard to content and publish transparency reports that highlights the number and kind of signals received will also have to include guarantees to prevent the risk of abusive withdrawals. Andrus Ansip was adamant on this latter element.
Guidelines also focus on the prevention and reappearance of illegal content and the online platforms are therefore called onto take measures to dissuade users from repeatedly putting illegal content online. The Commission emphasises that it is, “proposing common tools to swiftly and proactively detect, remove and prevent the reappearance of such content.”
According to the most recent Commission reports, the removal of illegal hate speech had increased by 28% to 59%. 28% of these withdrawals only took place week after they appeared. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)