EU says it’ll pass online hate speech laws if Facebook, Google, and others don’t crack down

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The European Union is once again asking Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other web companies to crack down on hate speech and speech inciting violence and terrorism — but this time, it’s taking things a step further. The European Commission has issued guidelinesfor web companies to follow, and it’s warning the companies that, if they don’t comply, the Commission may pass legislation. And that legislation, of course, could lead to some huge fines.

There are a handful of guidelines so far. The Commission recommends that web companies appoint a dedicated point of contact, who law enforcement can contact when illegal content is discovered. It wants web companies to allow third-party “trusted flaggers” with “specific expertise in identifying illegal content” to come in and monitor potentially illegal posts. And it asks web companies to invest in technologies that can automatically detect potentially illegal posts and speech.

It sounds like a lot, but it mostly boils down to this: web companies should remove illegal content faster and invest in tools and employees to make it happen.The Commission would also like companies to do more to prevent illegal content from being reposted after it’s been taken down. And the Commission says time frames may need to be established for how quickly illegal content is taken down once it’s discovered. Web companies should issue public guidelines, the Commission says, so that users know how takedown requests are treated and what kind of content gets removed.

Web companies still take over a week to remove illegal content in more than a quarter of cases, says Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for the digital economy and society. “The situation is not sustainable,” Gabriel says in a statement. “Today we provide a clear signal to platforms to act more responsibly.”

And there’s a good chance web companies will take steps toward following what the European Commission suggests. For one, the European Union is known for levying enormous fines on tech companies — like the €2.4 billion fine on Google — and those companies would certainly like to avoid any new legislation coming down that they could one day be in violation of. But also, these companies have already been working with the EU toward reducing hate speech. And several European countries have already passed or considered passing their own laws on hate speech that web companies have to comply with.

A year ago, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft all agreed to hate speech rules, which required the companies to review “the majority of” hateful content within 24 hours of becoming aware of it. As a result of the partnership, the companies later teamed up on a new database of images and videos identified as promoting terrorism, helping the platforms quickly pull down content that had already been identified as illegal by another company.

In today’s announcement, Vera Jourová, commissioner for justice and consumers, refers back to that agreement saying it’s proof that asking web companies to more strictly regulate hate speech on their own can work. “The code of conduct I agreed with Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft shows that a self-regulatory approach can serve as a good example and can lead to results,” Jourová said. But she also warned that “if the tech companies don't deliver, we will do it."

The Commission says it plans to “carefully” monitor web companies’ progress in implementing these recommendations and assess whether further action needs to be taken. That’s supposed to be completed by next May. “Follow-up initiatives will depend on the online platforms' actions to proactively implement the guidelines,” the Commission writes. Further actions, the announcement says, include “possible legislative measures to complement the existing regulatory framework."