On Monday 7 October, the European Commission defended before the European Ministers of Justice the progress made thanks to the Code of Conduct on combating online hate speech (see EUROPE 12186/2).
Established in 2016 and signed by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google+ and Snapchat, among others, it has contributed to progress in the rapid review and removal of hate content, said European Security Commissioner Julian King - replacing the European Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, who was being heard by MEPs (see other news).
In 2016, only 28% of the reported content was deleted, compared to 72% in 2019, and only 40% of notifications were processed within 24 hours, compared to 89% today. "The code of conduct has been a powerful tool", Mr King said, adding:"we must continue along this path", while taking into account "the various national initiatives that have been launched", as in Germany and, more recently, France.
The Finnish Presidency acknowledged the "positive effect" of the Code, as did France, which welcomed "encouraging results" and called for further efforts.
On the other hand, while Germany recognised that this was a very useful instrument to "demand more accountability" from platforms, the Member State called for more legislative efforts. In particular, Germany considered that there should not be "too much optimism" regarding the impact of the Code, because the analysis was too narrow for their liking. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)