EU wants removal of illegal content
Companies including Google, Facebook and Twitter could face EU laws forcing them to be more proactive in removing illegal internet content if they do not do more to police what is available on the internet.
Companies including Google, Facebook and Twitter could face EU laws forcing them to be more proactive in removing illegal content if they do not do more to police what is available on the internet.
The EU Commission outlines in draft guidelines how internet firms should step up efforts with measures such as establishing trusted flaggers and taking voluntary measures to detect and remove illegal content.
Proliferating illegal content, whether because it infringes copyright or incites terrorism, has sparked heated debate between those who want online platforms to do more to tackle it and those who say it could impinge on free speech.
The companies have stepped up efforts to tackle the problem, agreeing to an EU code of conduct to remove hate speech within 24 hours and forming a global working group to combine their efforts to remove terrorist content from platforms.
Existing EU legislation shields online platforms from liability for the content that is posted on their websites, limiting how far policy makers can force companies, that are not required to actively monitor what goes online, to act.
Online platforms need to step up their actions to deal with this problem, the draft EU guidelines say.
PROACTIVE
They need to be proactive in weeding out illegal content, put effective notice-and-action procedures in place, and establish well-functioning interfaces with third parties, such as trusted flaggers, and give priority to notifications from national law enforcement authorities, the guidelines say.
Expected to be published at the end of September, the guidelines are nonbinding, but further legislation is not ruled out, depending on progress made by the companies.
An EU Commission source said any legislation would not change the liability exemption for online platforms in EU law.
The commission wants the companies to develop “trusted flaggers” — experienced bodies with expertise in identifying illegal content — whose notifications would be given high priority and could lead to the automatic removal of content.
It also encourages web companies to publish transparency reports with detailed information on the number and type of notices received and actions taken and says the commission will explore options to standardise such transparency reports.
The guidelines also contain safeguards against excessive removal of content, such as giving its owners a right to contest such a decision.