No pass for Twitter. The Court of Cassation on Thursday rejected the appeal of the American social network against a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal requiring it to detail its means of combating online hatred. It therefore makes this decision final.
In its order, consulted by AFP, the Court notes “the insufficiency of the information communicated” by the company “with regard to the requirements” of this court decision.
Twitter fails in its moderation obligations
On January 20, 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed a decision rendered in July 2021 by the judicial court which ordered the social network to detail its mechanisms for moderating and combating hateful and discriminatory comments.
At the origin of this procedure, a summons in May 2020 from SOS Racisme, the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra) and SOS Homophobia, among others, who considered that the company was lacking in an “old and persistent way to its obligations of moderation.
Obligation to transmit information
Justice had ordered Twitter to communicate “any administrative, contractual, technical or commercial document relating to the material and human resources implemented” to “fight against the dissemination of offenses of glorifying crimes against humanity, incitement to racial hatred, hatred against people because of their sex”.
In detail, the company governed by Irish law must also detail “the number, location, nationality, language of the persons assigned to the processing of reports from users of the French platform”, “the number of reports”, “the criteria and the number of subsequent withdrawals” as well as “the number of information transmitted to the competent public authorities, in particular to the prosecution”.
“Ensuring people’s safety”
The associations based their request on the law for confidence in the digital economy (LCEN) of 2004, which requires platforms to “contribute to the fight” against online hatred and in particular to “make public the means they devote in the fight against these illicit activities”. During the decision of the Court of Appeal, the associations were pleased that “French justice demonstrates that the Gafa cannot impose their own law”. “Twitter will finally have to take responsibility, stop tackling and think ethics rather than profit and international expansion,” they added.
“Our top priority is to ensure the safety of people using our platform,” the company reacted at the time. “We are committed to building a safer internet, fighting online hate, and improving the serenity of public conversation. »