Photo: Trtworld. French Parliament adopts online hate speech bill
On May 13, French Parliament adopted a bill aimed at banning hate speeches on social media. Starting July 1, social network services and search engines are obliged to remove offensive contents. Offensive contents mainly include texts, pictures, videos and web pages that incite hatred or violence, or that carry insults toward a racist or religious nature.
The bill, first proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron’s La Republique En March Party, requires digital platforms to delete certain objective content within 24 hours after being flagged by users. If they do not respect the regulation, they are fined up to €1.25 million. After passing the National Assembly, the bill was reviewed in the Senate in 2019, during which it was faced with opposition especially to the 24-hour rule.
However, on May 13, the bill was adopted by a show of hands in the National Assembly. The 24-hour rule remained. 355 MPs voted for the bill, 150 against, and 47 abstained.
It was the first law to be voted on, that is not linked to COVID-19 in the National Assembly since the outbreak of the pandemic in France. Although there was heated controversy over possible limitation of freedom of speech, it is expected to improve the health of the public conversation, while addressing abuse and misleading information at scale.
[Sources]
Gold, H. (2020, May 13). French parliament passes law requiring social media companies delete certain content within an hour. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/13/tech/french-hate-speech-social-media-law/index.html
Gotev, G. (2020, May 14). French parliament adopts controversial online hate speech bill. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/french-parliament-adopts-controversial-online-hate-speech-bill/
Kayali, L. (2020, May 14). France gives final green light to law cracking down on hate speech online. Retrieved from https://www.politico.eu/article/france-gives-final-green-light-to-law-cracking-down-on-hate-speech-online/
Nationale, A. (2020, May 13). PPL visant à lutter contre les contenus haineux sur internet : adoption en lecture definitive. Retrieved from http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/actualites-accueil-hub/ppl-visant-a-lutter-contre-les-contenus-haineux-sur-internet-adoption-en-lecture-definitive
BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
