The French government warrants regulators to impose hefty penalties on social media firms that refuse to take down posts considered as hateful, one of the most aggressive steps so far in a wide range of policies intended to pressure tech giants to police their services more strictly.
The National Assembly of France signed a law Wednesday threatening fines of up to 1.25 million pounds ($1.36 million) against social media sites that fail to delete "manifestly illicit" hate-speech comments, like incitement to racial hatred or antisemitism.
Social media and other websites will only have 24 hours to remove objectionable content according to a new law passed by the French parliament. Failure to comply could result in penalties of up to 4 percent of global sales -billions of euros for the biggest online companies.
The new law mandates social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter to delete hate speech and illegal postings from their sites. Hateful content includes sexual discrimination, racism and sexual abuse, while illegal content relates to child pornography and terrorism.
Under the new directive, companies will be given 24 hours to delete hateful posts and just one hour to remove illegal content. The law establishes a specialized digital prosecutor at the courts and a federal branch to oversee hate speech on the internet.
Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet disclosed to members of the French parliament that the new order will help minimize hate speech on social media. "People will now think twice before they cross the red line if they know there's a high chance they will be held responsible," Belloubet stated. Advocates of free speech did not like the new law.
According to La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), an online civil liberties defence organization, the legislator should have instead aimed at the online companies' business structures.
For Facebook, it pointed out that going after hateful posts had been a priority for a many years and that human and artificial intelligence systems were already set up to deal with the issue.
Combatting hate on the internet has been a focus for Facebook for many years. "We have clear policies against it and have invested in technology and manpower to better identify and remove it," a company spokesperson disclosed in a statement.
Audrey Herblin Stoop, public affairs head of Twitter France, said they would continue to cooperate with the regulators to create a safer Internet and fight illegal hate content, while protecting a freedom of expression and fair competition online.
