DIGITALEUROPE Position Paper on Terrorist Content Online proposal

DIGITALEUROPE’s membership fully supports the efforts of the European Commission to fight terrorism and incitement to violence. We believe this is a key policy area that, if done right, will help reduce the dissemination of terrorist content online.

Our member companies have undertaken extensive work to fight terrorism and incitement to violence, including expanding their cooperation with law enforcement authorities and increasing available measures to tackle extremist content on a voluntary basis.

It is important that policymakers carefully consider the issues at stake, most importantly, aspects regarding rule of law, fundamental rights, and the feasibility of implementation for hosting service providers. Finding the right approach is not easy, and it is crucial to bear in mind that this Regulation will also further define how we generally consider duty of care of platforms. Moreover, the Regulation could have knock-on effects for innovation and the future of internet services.

The proposed measures need to be consistent with the long-established e-Commerce Directive by ensuring that they are appropriate to the technical and organizational nature of the online world and providing legal certainty for the covered hosting service providers.

We agree with the Commission that it is important to uphold the current legal framework as set out in the e-Commerce Directive, and whilst we understand the urgency of the drive to tackle terrorist content online, it is crucial that this Regulation is workable and properly considers the unintended consequences on the broader digital economy. Specifically we believe that the current legal framework as set out in the e-Commerce Directive must not be undermined or derogated from.