Facebook, X, and YouTube, among other tech companies, have agreed to do more to tackle online hate speech. A new code of conduct will now be included in the EU
tech rules. This news came after the European Commission made public its efforts to keep online communities more friendly for all users on Monday.
Even more so, other online platforms that have agreed to voluntarily sign the code set up in May 2016 are Dailymotion, Instagram, Linkedin, Microsoft, Jeuxvideo.com, and other ghosted consumer services such as Snapchat, Rakuten Viber, TikTok, and Twitch.
The EU tech commissioner, Henna Virkkunen, said in a statement, “In Europe, there is no place for illegal hate, either offline or online. I welcome the stakeholders' commitment to a strengthened Code of Conduct under the Digital Services Act (DSA).”
Even more so, the DSA makes tech companies do even more in order to prevent illegal and harmful content appear on theri platforms. Even more so, any compliance encountered with the updated code could impact regulators’ enforcement of the Act, EU officials stated.
Now, with the latest modifications to the code, the companies have pledged to give permission to not-for-profit and public entities with expertise in illegal hate speech to supervise their review of hate speech. Even more so, they have the responsibility of assessing at least two-thirds of the notices that are received within 24 hours.
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The companies are also responsible for taking measures such as the use of automatic detection tools that eliminate hate speech encountered on their platforms and supply information on how the recommendation systems as well as the organic and algorithmic reach of illegal content prior to its removal.
So, the companies that have agreed to sign the code such as Facebook, YouTube, and X will need to present country-level data that is broken down by the internal classification of hate speech where we can see negative talk about race, ethnicity, gender identity, orientation, or religion.
By
George King
•
January 21, 2025 11:10 PM
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