The European Parliament yesterday passed a new law to shut down terrorist content, paving the way for hour-long moves to become the legal standard across the EU.
The regulation “Combating the spread of terrorist content on the Internet” will come into force shortly after its publication in the EU Official Journal – and will come into force 12 months later.
The inbound regime means that providers serving users in the region must respond to notices of the removal of terrorist content from Member State authorities or provide an explanation as to why they were unable to do so within an hour of receiving them.
There are exceptions for educational, research, artistic and journalistic work. The legislature aims to spread terrorism propaganda on online platforms such as social media websites.
The types of content that this regime seeks to remove quickly includes material that incites, encourages, or contributes to terrorist offenses. gives instructions for such crimes; or asks people to participate in a terrorist organization.
Material posted online containing instructions on how to make and use explosives, firearms or other weapons for terrorist purposes is also included.
However, concerns have been expressed about the impact on freedom of expression online – even if platforms use content filters to reduce their risk, given the tight turnaround times required for removal.
The law does not generally oblige platforms to monitor or filter content, but rather urges service providers to prevent the distribution of prohibited content. You need to take steps to prevent the spread.
It is up to the service providers how exactly they do this and as long as they exist There is no legal obligation to use automated tools. It is likely that filters are what larger providers resort to, with the risk of unjustified language cooling that follows quickly.
Another problem is how exactly terrorist content is defined by law. Civil rights groups warn that authoritarian governments in Europe could try to use it to persecute critics from other regions in the region.
The law contains transparency obligations. This means that providers have to publicly report information on content identification and shutdown measures on an annual basis.
On the sanctions side, the member states are responsible for enacting sanctions regulations. However, the regulation imposes maximum fines for repeated non-compliance of up to 4% of global annual sales.
The EU legislator proposed the new rules back in 2018 when there was great concern about the spread of ISIS content on the Internet.
The platforms were forced to adhere to an informal one-hour shutdown rule in March of that year. However, within a few months the Commission put forward a broader proposal for a regulation aimed at “preventing the spread of terrorist content on the internet”.
In the process of negotiating the proposal, MEPs and Member States (through the Council) adapted the provisions – for example, the former pushed for a provision requiring the competent authority to contact companies that are about to be adopted of the proposal have never received a move order first order to remove content – to give them information on procedures and deadlines – so that they are not completely on the go.
However, the impact on smaller content providers remains a matter of concern to critics.
The Council adopted its final position in March. Yesterday’s parliamentary approval concludes the co-legislative process.
In a statement, MEP Patryk JAKI, Rapporteur on Legislation, commented: “Terrorists recruit, spread propaganda and coordinate attacks on the Internet. Today we have effective mechanisms in place to enable Member States to remove terrorist content across the European Union in a maximum of an hour. I firmly believe that we have achieved a good result that reconciles security, freedom of speech and expression on the Internet, protects legal content and access to information for every citizen in the EU, and at the same time combats terrorism through cooperation and trust between States fought. “
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