The European Union has urged tech companies such as Facebook, Google and more to swiftly act against hate speech.
In May this year, tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and Microsoft signed a code of conduct to efficiently and quickly combat hate speech on their website. However, a European Commission report suggests that the response from these companies on handling hate speech on their websites have been unsatisfactory.
When Should A Company Act Per The Code Of Conduct?
According to the code of conduct companies are required to review most of the illegal hate speech within 24 hours and take necessary actions to disable or remove them. However, according to a European Commission official, companies are not achieving the set time frame for handling hate speech. The report highlights that only 40 percent of hate speeches were reviewed within 24 hours.
The official claims that the deadline for addressing hate speech is realistic but tech companies have to put more efforts to achieve the goals.
Vera Jourova, the EU Justice Commissioner who commissioned the report, says that companies have to act fast in dealing with hate speeches.
Which Companies Are Prompt In Dealing With Hateful Content?
According to the report, YouTube is the quickest to handle flagged content. On the other hand, Twitter is the slowest to manage hateful content.
About 600 cases of potentially hateful content were reviewed by EU officials in the past six months. According to the report, 316 cases required a website to respond. However, only 163 cases were deleted or disabled, while on the rest of the cases the companies claimed that the content was not objectionable and they were not removed.
Countries That Deal With Hate Speech Quickly
The report also highlighted that the removal rate of flagged racist content in France and Germany was more than 50 percent. In Italy, the removal rate was 4 percent while in Austria it was 11 percent.
The Commission also warned that if the companies do not respond quickly, it could enact legislation forcing them to speed up the process.
Jourova says that Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Microsoft will have to convince the ministers that a non-legislative approach will work to handle hate speech. However, it the companies are not able to convince Jourova and the ministers, then the European Commission with enact laws that will force the companies to follow swifter action on hate speech on their websites.
EU justice ministers will discuss the report on Dec. 8 in Brussels.
