PURPOSE: strengthen the action of the European
Union in combatting the spread of online terrorist
content.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure on an equal footing with council.
BACKGROUND: the misuse of hosting service
providers by terrorist groups and their supporters to
disseminate terrorist-related content in order to spread their
message, radicalise and attract new recruits, as well as to
facilitate and direct terrorist activities is of particular
concern. Efforts at Union level to counter terrorist content online
commenced in 2015 through a framework of voluntary cooperation
between Member States and hosting service providers, the EU
Internet Forum.
The Commission proposes to complement these
efforts with a clear legislative framework in order to further
reduce accessibility to terrorist content online and adequately
address a rapidly evolving problem. This legislative framework
seeks to build on voluntary efforts, which were reinforced by the
Commission
Recommendation (EU) 2018/334 and responds to calls made by the
European Parliament in its
resolution of 15 June 2017 to strengthen measures to tackle
illegal and harmful content and by the European Council to improve
the automatic detection and removal of content that incites to
terrorist acts.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the impact assessment
concluded that a series of measures were needed to achieve the
strategic objective of reducing online terrorist content. Three
main options were considered, in addition to the baseline
scenario, with increasing degrees of effectiveness in achieving the
objectives set in the impact assessment.
CONTENT: the draft regulation aims to increase
the effectiveness of current measures to detect, identify and
remove terrorist content online without encroaching on
fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression and
information.
In specific terms, the proposal:
- defines terrorist content as material and
information that incites, encourages or advocates the commission or
contribution to terrorist offences, provides instructions for the
commission of such offences or promotes the participation in
activities of a terrorist group;
- provides for duties of care to be applied by
hosting service providers when taking action in accordance with the
regulation and in particular, with due regard to the fundamental
rights involved;
- requires Member States to empower competent
authorities to issue removal orders and lays down a
requirement for hosting service providers to remove content
within one hour of the receipt of a removal
order;
- sets out the minimum elements referrals should
contain and procedures for hosting service providers to give
feedback to the issuing authority, and to inform the latter if it
is not possible to comply with the order or if further
clarification is required;
- requires hosting service providers, where appropriate,
to take proactive measures commensurate with the level of
risk and to remove terrorist material from their services,
including deploying automated detection tools;
- requires hosting service providers to: (i) preserve
removed content and related data for six months for review
proceedings and for investigative purposes; (ii) explain their
policies against terrorist content and to publish annual
transparency reports on the actions taken in this regard; (iii) put
in place specific safeguards and remedies to ensure that
users can challenge the deletion of their content;
- requires Member States to ensure that competent
authorities have sufficient capability and resources to
combat online terrorist content and to cooperate with each other
and, where appropriate, with Europol, to avoid duplicating work and
any interference with ongoing investigations;
- provides for the establishment of points of
contact by both hosting service providers and Member States to
facilitate communication between them, particularly in relation to
referrals and removal orders;
- requires hosting service providers which do not have
an establishment within any Member State but which do offer
services within the Union, to designate a legal representative
in the Union;
- specifies that Member States should lay down rules on
penalties for non-compliance and provides criteria for
Member States to take into account when determining the type and
level of penalties.