France to introduce its law against hate speech on social media

Facebook and data protection is a hot topic, and we previously discussed issues about Cambridge Analytica, Android based data retrieving it as well as notes on the new German Facebook law. Today we would like to add some to the topic by summing up whether France is ready to follow the German example with a stronger regulation regarding social media sites.

So, a little time back, Germany introduced its Facebook law, which is against hate speech, fake news and racist contents on the site. Other European countries were willing to follow the example, and among them was France.

The new action France took is also in connection with cutting back on hate speech. Facebook started to be a place for racism and radicalism regarding the contents the site allowed to appear, and the country decided to take control of the situation.

As part of an ongoing effort to fight rising racism in the country, the French government announced in March that it will introduce new legislation requiring digital platforms to remove offensive content as soon as possible after it appears. Other social media platforms are included besides Facebook, but as it is the biggest platform of the country it was made an example of.

The so-called Cyberhate law is necessary to introduce, as there are more and more anti-Semitic movements and contents on social media as well as other racist comments and posts, which were spreading at an alarming speed. The proposed law mirrors the German law; however, some changes have been made. In addition to imposing fines, the new law would allow the government to move directly and shut down accounts that share hate content.

The government is also considering creating its own network of investigators and judges to search for harmful content that is not being reported by other users of the social media platforms.

The French government stated, that despite the progress that had been made against cyber hate previously, digital platforms simply weren’t moving aggressively enough to stop the rising levels of online hate speech, so they were feeling like they need to step in and solve the rising problem.

The measures are being introduced by different European countries as well, to cut back on fake news and cyberbullying. This is a counter step to get a hold of issues regarding social media usage.