EU Wants Microsoft and Google to Combat Hate Speech (For Real This Time)

​

Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Twitter signed a so-called code of conduct in May that would have them tackle the issue of hate speech in a more efficient way, but their reaction has so far been below expectations, the European Commission said.

As a result, the EU is calling for all companies to combat hate speech and content promoting violence and terrorism faster and more efficiently, or otherwise be forced to do it with laws that would regulate how tech firms must act in such cases.

“In practice the companies take longer and do not yet achieve this goal. They only reviewed 40% of the recorded cases in less than 24 hours. After 48 hours the figure is more than 80%. This shows that the target can realistically be achieved, but this will need much stronger efforts by the IT companies,” an EU official was quoted as saying by Reuters.

According to the original code of conduct signed in May, tech companies would have to take action on flagged illegal content in 24 hours, but they so far failed to do so.

Twitter, the slowest to combat hate speech

IBTimes writes that Google’s YouTube was the fastest to react to reports of hate speech, while Twitter was the slowest. But overall, the way tech firms acted in the case of illegal content is not satisfactory, as only 316 cases received a response from companies, out of a total of 600. Furthermore, content flagged as hate speech was deleted only in 163 cases.

The EU Commission now wants companies to act more efficiently in this fight against hate speech, warning that if they once again failed to do it, laws that would force them to be more actively involved in this matter would certainly come into effect.

“If Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft want to convince me and the ministers that the non-legislative approach can work, they will have to act quickly and make a strong effort in the coming months,” EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said.

None of the companies that are being targeted by EU’s warning offered an official statement on this requirement so far.