Online regulationThe EU Online Terrorism Regulation: A Bad Deal
On 12 September 2018, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online—dubbed the Terrorism Regulation, or TERREG for short—that contained some alarming ideas.
On 12 September 2018, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online—dubbed the Terrorism Regulation, or TERREG for short—that contained some alarming ideas. In particular, the proposal included an obligation for platforms to remove potentially terrorist content within one hour, following an order from national competent authorities.
Ideas such as this one have been around for some time already. In 2016, we first wrote about the European Commission’s attempt to create a voluntary agreement for companies to remove certain content (including terrorist expression) within 24 hours, and Germany’s Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) requires the same. NetzDG has spawned dozens of copycats throughout the world, including in countries like Turkey with far fewer protections for speech, and human rights more generally.
Beyond the one hour removal requirement, the TERREG also contained a broad definition of what constitutes terrorist content as “material that incites or advocates committing terrorist offences, promotes the activities of a terrorist group or provides instructions and techniques for committing terrorist offences”.
Furthermore, it introduced a duty of care for all platforms to avoid being misused for the dissemination of terrorist content. This includes the requirement of taking proactive measures to prevent the dissemination of such content. These rules were accompanied by a framework of cooperation and enforcement.
These aspects of the TERREG are particularly concerning, as research we’ve conducted in collaboration with other groups demonstrates that companies routinely make content moderation errors that remove speech that parodies or pushes back against terrorism, or documents human rights violations in countries like Syria that are experiencing war.
TERREG and Human Rights
TERREG was created without real consultation of free expression and human rights groups and has serious repercussions for online expression. Even worse, the proposal was adopted based on political spin rather than evidence.
Notably, in 2019, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency—tasked with an opinion by the EU parliament—expressed concern about the regulation. In particular, the FRA noted that the definition of terrorist content had to be modified as it was too wide and would interfere with freedom of expression rights. Also, “According to the FRA, the proposal does not guarantee the involvement by the judiciary and the Member States’ obligation to protect fundamental rights online has to be strengthened.”
