On Monday 4 February, the European Commission unveiled the results of its fourth assessment of the Code of Conduct introduced in 2016 to combat illegal hate speech online.
On average, in 72% of cases, Internet giants responded to hate speech notifications by deleting content, compared to 70% in the previous evaluation (see EUROPE 11943) and 40% when the Code was first launched in 2016.
“Today results of the evaluation show that we did the right thing with this voluntary approach”, the European Commissioner for Justice, Vĕra Jourová, told the press.
The Code now has nine signatories, covering 96% of the EU market likely to be affected by hate content, according to the Commission. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft were joined in 2018 by Google+, Instagram, Snapchat and Dailymotion (see EUROPE 12050). On the same day, the Commissioner also announced the participation of the French gaming platform jeuxvideos.com.
All Code participants are meeting the objective of reviewing the majority of reports received during the day, averaging more than 89% compared to 81% in the previous evaluation. Facebook still leads the ranking with 92.6% of notifications assessed in less than 24 hours, followed by Twitter (88.3%) and YouTube (83.8%). Instagram and Google+ recorded rates of 77.4% and 60% respectively.
Commissioner Jourová also welcomed the fact that the evaluation did not report excessive removal of content, showing that companies continue to respect freedom of expression.
On the other hand, the Commission considers that feedback to users continues to be lacking (see EUROPE 11800) and expects progress from Internet giants. The results show that companies returned 65.4% of notifications received, a rate lower than the previous assessment (68.9%).
Only Facebook systematically informs users, with a feedback rate of 92.6% of notifications received. Twitter did so in 60.4% of cases, Instagram in 25% of cases and YouTube in 24.6% of cases, while Google+ did not send any feedback on any notification.
The results also confirm the trends of December 2017, with a predominance of racially motivated hate speech. Xenophobia was identified as the most frequently reported ground for hate speech (17%), followed by sexual orientation (15.6%) and hate against Muslims (13%).
The Commissioner expressed concern about the rise in hate speech against migrants across Europe, particularly in Italy. “We are following with concerns what is happening in the member states, we see that the evil and hatred in the online world can easily spill over to the real world”, she said.
When asked about the possibility of extending the scope of the Code of Conduct to other forms of hate speech, such as online harassment leading in some cases to suicide, the Commissioner recalled that the EU's framework for action was limited to illegal hate speech, which could be prosecuted at Member State level.
But the good results of the evaluation do not mean that the fight against online hate speech is over, the Commissioner stressed. The Commission intends to continue to monitor the situation on the platforms closely and does not rule out additional measures if efforts slow down or stop.
“This is the crucial moment for the Tech sector. Either they will prove that they can play fair and embrace the rules that exist in the offline world or they will face regulatory actions on many fronts”, Jourová warned. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)