The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that users of Facebook and other social media platforms will be able to request the removal of content they consider illegal. The content will be removed worldwide, not just in the user's country of residence.
If the European Union court decides that a publication is illegal or is being used to defame someone, it can force platforms to block that content.
The issue came to light after a dispute between Facebook and Austrian politician Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek. Glawischnig-Piesczek asked the platform to remove content that she said was damaging to her reputation. However, Facebook did not respond. The politician sued Facebook in an Austrian court. Eventually, the content was removed from the platform in Austria, as it was found to be defamatory of the politician.
Glawischnig-Piesczek asked Facebook to delete the content worldwide, not just in her country.
Requests to remove content will only be accepted if they meet the criteria set by the European.
If the court deems the content inappropriate, social media platforms, such as Facebook, will have to block it. At the same time, automated tools find similar posts.
“This order should extend to information, the content of which, although essentially conveying the same message, is worded slightly differently, due to different words or their combination,” the court said.
Platforms are not required to monitor all posts for illegal content, but only those related to removal requests.
As we said above, with the new decision, illegal content will no longer appear worldwide. This decision increases the responsibility that social media platforms have to monitor sites and posts for inappropriate content. This is a very critical decision, in this era when the rules for managing harmful content are increasing around the world.
Facebook said this decision “undermines the principle that one country does not have the right to impose its laws on another country,” meaning that one country cannot request the removal of content from other countries.
Tech companies are also forced to monitor content on their platforms and determine whether it is similar to content that has been deemed illegal, so that it can be removed as well. “We hope the courts will take the right approach so that freedom of expression is not undermined,” Facebook added.
Although Facebook has expressed many times that it should not be held responsible for what is published on its platforms, it has taken some measures to control its content, to comply with government.
A few days ago, it made several changes to its policy, aimed at preventing the spread of terrorist and extremist content.
Last week, it also took some new measures to combat foreign interference in Singapore.
