PARIS, Europe Brief News – The Paris appellate court ruled on Thursday that Twitter must reveal data about its efforts to combat hateful speech online in France, giving a victory to
activist groups that claim the social media platform is not doing enough.
The decision offers ammunition to protesters throughout Europe who are calling for tighter
restrictions on Twitter and other social media sites to stop the recurrence of violent and racist information.
It affirmed a judge’s decision from last year, which required Twitter to submit information
on the number, citizenship, locality, and spoken tongue of the persons who monitor
material on the French version of the network.
Twitter was also ordered by the lower court to provide any legal, organizational, economic,
or technical papers that may be used to establish the financial resources it has used to
combat hateful speech online in France.
According to a copy of the judgment reviewed by Reuters, the appeals court affirmed the
initial ruling in its entirety and ordered Twitter to give 1,500 euros ($1,700) in compensation to each of the six claimants.
Twitter’s first goal, according to a spokeswoman, is to safeguard the security of those who
use the network, and the company is examining the court judgment. The American firm
refused to comment on the ruling’s organizational and financial consequences.
Campaigners, on the other hand, were overjoyed. Only a minority of hostile posts were
deleted from Twitter two days after they were reported, according to the six lobbying groups who filed.
‘FORBIDDEN TO FORBID’
“I’m sick of this era in which everything is tolerated and where it is ‘forbidden to forbid,'”
said Marc Knobel, head of J’Accuse! (I Accuse), one of the organizations.
“We must put an end to this false belief: not everything in our environment should be permitted.”
The verdict distinguishes France from nations such as Denmark, the United Kingdom, and
the United States, where a similar lawsuit has been successful due to the country’s strict anti-racism statutes.
Racial hatred and anti-Semitism are not considered common ideas in France but rather criminal offenses.
Last May, the United Kingdom announced that a proposed new rule would see social media
corporations penalized up to 10% of their annual revenue or £18 million ($25 million). It would happen if they refused to combat online misuse such as racist violence, with senior executives facing criminal charges.
