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EU Threatens Twitter And Facebook With Possible 'Hate Speech' Laws (gizmodo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Gizmodo: On Sunday, the European Commission warned Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube and Microsoft that if the companies do not address their hate speech problems, the EU will enact legislation that will force them to do so. In May, those five companies voluntarily signed a code of conduct to fight illegal hate speech on their platforms within 24 hours... But on Sunday, the European Commission revealed that the companies were not complying with this code in a satisfactory manner.

"In practice the companies take longer and do not yet achieve this goal. They only reviewed 40 percent of the recorded cases in less than 24 hours," a Commission official told Reuters. The Commission's report found that YouTube responded to reports of harassment the fastest, and unsurprisingly, Twitter found itself in last place. "If Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft want to convince me and the ministers that the non-legislative approach can work, they will have to act quickly and make a strong effort in the coming months," Jourova told the Financial Times on Sunday.

4 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Strong effort by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sounds like the mega-companies need to step up their bribery efforts. I mean "donation" efforts.

  2. Re:EU is not Democracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    "freedom of speech" is not the only freedom in the world. It has to be balanced against all other freedoms. These freedoms may be weighted differently in different regions of the globe, but even in the US "freedom of speech" ist not universal above everything else. Just try crying "FIRE" in a crowded theatre and then claiming freedom of speech.

    In these cases the problem is *really* hate. Hate in "you f*cking b*tch! I hate everything you say and if we ever meet i will rape you and hang you on your own intestines" (withouth the * of course). Should posts like these *really* be protected with nothing the person attacked can do? EU law says otherwise, but twitter&co rather do nothing - some say because a good hate-filled "discussion" gives more page views and therefore more ad revenue.

  3. Re:Unclear by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Uh, isn't "whiteness" the color of his skin and "maleness" his gender? You should judge people as individuals, not simply based on their race or gender. Until you do that, you are a racist, PopeRatzo.

  4. Re:Inside every "Liberal" is an "Authoritarian" by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Informative

    The proper reaction to "bad" speech is good speech.

    Which didn't work in literally Hitler's case. The arguments about him then banning speech don't really apply: he got to that level of power using speech when opposing speech wasn't banned.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.