EU: Terrorist content online: Civil Liberties Committees makes improvements but proposal still dangerous
10 April 2019
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Terrorist content online: Civil Liberties Committees makes improvements but proposal still dangerous
10.4.19
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The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) has agreed its position on a proposal to prevent the "dissemination of terrorist content online". Digital rights groups say that while LIBE's position is an improvement on the Commission's proposal, the text is still a danger to freedom of speech online.
European Parliament press release: Terrorist content online: companies to be given just one hour to remove it (link):
"No general monitoring obligation for online platforms, nor compulsory use of filters
- Penalties of up to 4% of the company’s turnover if there are persistent breaches
- Speech and press freedom must be safeguarded
- Internet companies should remove terrorist content quickly, at the latest one hour after receiving an order from the authorities, Civil Liberties Committee agreed."
Terrorist Content Regulation: Successful “damage control” by LIBE Committee (EDRI, link):
"Released by the European Commission in September 2018, the proposal was very welcomed in the Council of Member States, which rapidly concluded a political agreement a few months later. Stronger reservations were, however, expressed in the different Committees in charge of the file in the European Parliament,which lead to substantial changes in the Commission’s original proposal.
The most critical points for the protection of fundamental rights concerning the proposed Regulation were taken on board by the LIBE Committee in its Report"
An upcoming European law pretexts fighting terrorism to silence the whole Internet (La Quadrature du Net, link):
"On 8 April 2019, the LIBE Committee (for “Civil Liberties”), which had been chosen within the European Parliament to work on the regulation, adopted the text with some modifications. In particular, the possibility for authorities to impose automatic filtering has disappeared. However, the text still contains provisions that are extremely dangerous to our freedoms."
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