Racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia … More than a third of online hate messages reported in the EU to platforms are not deleted, indicates a European Commission assessment for the period March-April, highlighting an increase in this rate compared to the last two years.
This report concerns Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Jeuxvideo.com, TikTok, all signatories of the EU Code of Conduct to Combat Illegal Hate Speech Online, launched in 2016.
62.5% of reported content has been removed
According to this sixth assessment, these platforms removed an average of 62.5% of the content reported by 35 anti-discrimination organizations from 22 Member States between March 1 and April 14. This rate is lower than the 71% recorded on average over the same six-week period in 2019 as in 2020.
While it has decreased on Facebook and YouTube, this proportion has increased on Twitter and Instagram. First-rated TikTok removed 80% of reported content. Hate speech based on sexual orientation and xenophobia are the most frequently cited.
Nearly 4,500 reports sent to the platforms
Companies have committed in the code of conduct to review the majority of removal requests within 24 hours. The review rate of reports within this timeframe remains high (81%), but it has also decreased compared to 2020 (90%).
In total, some 4,500 reports were sent to platforms, Facebook in the lead, then Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Jeuxvideo.com and TikTok. Snapchat, Dailymotion and Microsoft, also signatories to the code of conduct, did not receive such requests during the evaluation period.
A new regulatory project under development with the DSA
The maintenance of disputed messages online is sometimes due to a difference of opinion between the organization making the report and the platform, which assesses the legality of the content in terms of its internal rules and national laws. This device, which was joined in June by LinkedIn, is based on a voluntary approach, but the EU is currently preparing a vast regulation of the digital giants.
“We still need to make progress, by adopting the DSA (Digital services act), to ensure that it is possible to fight hate online across the EU”, said European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders arriving at a ministerial meeting in Luxembourg.
This regulatory project is also reinforced, according to Brussels, by the recent revelations of the whistleblower of Facebook, Frances Haugen. “We need to set rules and make platforms more accountable, not just rely on voluntary programs,” European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova, responsible for values and transparency, tweeted on Wednesday, after speaking with Frances Haugen. “It is time for the digital world to respect European values,” she added.