On Thursday 7 October, the European Commission published the results of a new evaluation of its code of conduct against online hate speech (see EUROPE 12749/20).
“The results show a mixed picture”, notes the Commission. The evaluation, which covered a period of approximately 6 weeks between March and April 2021, found, among other things, a decrease in the review rates of notifications sent to platforms and in the removal rates of notified content.
Platforms assessed 81% of notifications in less than 24 hours, compared to 90.4% in 2020, and removed 62.5% of content notified to them, compared to 71% in 2019 and 2020.
“Removal rates varied depending on the severity of hateful content. 69% of content calling for murder or violence against specific groups was removed, while 55% of the content using defamatory words or pictures aiming at certain groups was removed. Conversely, in 2020, the respective results were 83,5% and 57.8%”, the institution also notes.
The Commission also points out that hate speech based on sexual orientation (18.2%), xenophobia (18%) and anti-gypsyism (12.5%) received the highest number of reports.
To consult the information provided by the platforms: https://bit.ly/308Gf25; and the summary of the evaluation: https://bit.ly/3Fw2dMw (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)