The speech given by Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip at the Mobile World Congress on Monday 26 February would seem to confirm press leaks about the forthcoming initiative on tackling illegal online content (see EUROPE 11961).
Ansip, who is responsible for the digital single market, argued at the annual mobile telephony meeting that the EU’s liability regime and net neutrality rules are two principles that have guaranteed an open internet. “If the internet is to remain open – and I believe that it should – then illegal content must be blocked at the source, not in the network. This is also more effective and proportionate”, he stated.
The Commission intends to present a recommendation on 1 March on illegal online content, in particular terrorism. This initiative, which stresses, inter alia, the importance of reporting mechanisms that must be easy to find and use, will supplement previous guidance on detection and definitive removal.
In his speech, Ansip delivered greater detail: “This recommendation will be built on the e-commerce liability regime, which we will not change. Not today. Not tomorrow. Why? Because I do not want Europe to become a ‘big brother’ society in online monitoring”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)