Rights Groups Urge EU’s Thierry Breton: No Internet Shutdowns for “Hateful” Content

EFF and 66 human rights and free speech advocacy groups across the globe today called on EU Internal Commissioner Thierry Breton to clarify that the Digital Services Act (DSA)–new regulations aimed at reining in Big Tech companies that control the lion’s share of online speech worldwide–does not allow internet shutdowns to be used as a weapon to punish platforms for not removing “hateful content.”

BY KAREN GULLO [2]
JULY 26, 2023

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Arbitrary blocking of online platforms for not following procedural
safeguards to take down hate speech violates human rights under
international law, the groups said in a letter to Breton asking him to
clarify comments [3] he made in a July 10 interview.  Platforms will be
required to remove hateful content “immediately” or they will face
“immediate sanctions” and be banned from operating “on our territory,”
Breton said. The DSA imposes new legal requirements on TikTok,
Instagram, and other very large social media platforms effective July
25.

In his comments on a radio station about recent riots in France, Breton,
a former French minister, brought up the potential of restricting social
media platforms under the DSA amidst existing civil turmoil in the
nation.

Arbitrary blocking of online platforms and other forms of internet
shutdowns are never a proportionate measure and impose disastrous
consequences for people’s safety and worsen the spread of
misinformation, EFF and its international partners said in the letter.

With non-EU countries embracing DSA-like regulations, Breton’s comments,
without the requested clarification, threaten to reinforce the
weaponization of internet shutdowns around the world, and give cover to
governments using arbitrary blocking to shroud violence and serious
human rights abuse.

In the letter, civil society groups articulated the importance of a
human-rights friendly implementation of the DSA. However, a recent
French draft law on the regulation of the digital space requires
browser-based website blocking, which is an unprecedented government
censorship tool [4].

The letter is here [5].

RELATED UPDATES

[6]
DEEPLINKS BLOG [7] BY KATITZA RODRIGUEZ [8] | JULY 20, 2023

FIRST DRAFT OF UN CYBERCRIME CONVENTION DROPS TROUBLING PROVISIONS, BUT
DANGEROUS AND OPEN-ENDED CROSS BORDER SURVEILLANCE POWERS ARE STILL ON
THE TABLE  [6]

_This is Part I of a two-part post about the first draft of the UN
Cybercrime Convention. Part I provides background on the negotiations
and analyzes our first take on the Zero draft and its human rights
implications. Part II analyzes the draft’s most problematic
provisions._The much-anticipated official first negotiated…

RELATED ISSUES

INTERNATIONAL [9]
DIGITAL SERVICES ACT [10]
EUROPEAN UNION [11]
FREE SPEECH [12]
CONTENT BLOCKING [13]
BIG TECH [14]
GOVERNMENT SOCIAL MEDIA BLOCKING [15]
SOCIAL NETWORKS [16]

Links:
——
[1] https://www.eff.org/
[2] https://www.eff.org/about/staff/karen-gullo
[3] https://www.politico.eu/article/social-media-riot-shutdowns-possible-under-eu-content-law-breton-says/
[4] https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/dsa-internet-blocking/
[5] https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/dsa-internet-blocking-statement/
[6] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/first-draft-un-cybercrime-treaty-drops-troubling-provisions-dangerous-and-open
[7] https://www.eff.org/updates?type=blog
[8] https://www.eff.org/about/staff/katitza-rodriguez
[9] https://www.eff.org/issues/international
[10] https://www.eff.org/issues/eu-policy-principles
[11] https://www.eff.org/issues/eff-europe
[12] https://www.eff.org/issues/free-speech
[13] https://www.eff.org/issues/content-blocking
[14] https://www.eff.org/issues/big-tech
[15] https://www.eff.org/issues/government-social-media-blocking
[16] https://www.eff.org/issues/social-networks