EU “Terrorist Content Adoption of Deletion Rule within 1 Hour”

The European Parliament approved a new rule cracking down on terrorist content on April 28, 2021 (local time). When various service providers receive a request to delete terror-related content from the authorities, they must delete the content within one hour.

The new regulations target content such as text, images, recordings, and videos that incite terrorist crimes or encourage terrorist activities. In addition, materials explaining how to make or use explosives and weapons used for terrorist purposes are also subject.

The service provider must prohibit access to the content or delete the content itself within one hour after receiving a request for deletion from the competent authority of the Member State. An obligation to disclose and explain the Annual Transparency Report in the event of a failure to comply with the request arises.

The rule was submitted in 2018, but several major amendments were made until it passed the European Parliament. In particular, it is emphasized that content uploaded for education, art, publication, and research purposes is not subject to this regulation.

Also, discussions on freedom of expression were repeated. For example, the regulation that the content deletion request must be responded to within an hour is quite strict, so the service provider is required to provide an algorithm that automatically filters the content to reduce the risk of violation of the rule.

However, some members of the European Parliament and rights groups are concerned that the introduction of algorithms according to the new rules is not a threat to freedom of expression by major service providers. A French European Parliament member said that the use of automatic filtering is not obligatory, but that each company is required to introduce algorithms. Such a technique may seem more attractive in a situation where algorithms become cheaper than humans.

Service providers will take effect 12 months after the publication of this rule in the Official Journal of the EU and then be adopted and implemented by Member States. Related information can be found here.