The law has drawn criticism for the strict measures against terrorist content, which were not included in the initial bill.
Background: In France, President Emmanuel Macron announced a law against hate speech in February 2019, to place a higher degree of responsibility on online platforms for the harmful content that they host, and require them to take down hate speech more quickly. The law would complement the law on disinformation, which was passed in 2018 and introduced transparency requirements on political advertising and on the algorithms through which ads are shown to end users. In January 2020, the bill for a ‘Hate Law’ (Lois Haine) was introduced in the French Parliament, the National Assembly.
Platforms have 24 hours to take down harmful content: On 13 May 2020, the Parliament adopted the law. The Hate Law introduces a requirement to take down content such as hatred, violence, or sexual harassment within 24 hours after it has been reported by the public or by the police. Failure to do so could result in fines up to €1.25m. Continued or repeated violations could result in penalties up to 4% of a company’s annual turnover, issued by the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA).
A provision on terrorist content draws criticism: In its final version, the law introduces an even stricter requirement – a one-hour timeframe to take down terrorist content, upon request from the police. This applies not just to large platforms, but to all websites. This provision is similar to the draft EU Regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online, approved by the EU Parliament in April 2019 and currently on hold. This has raised criticism on the law, which is seen as disproportionate for small websites that could be blocked across the country if they do not comply within an hour, and gives excessive power to the police in deciding what is terrorist content.
