Terrorist Content Regulation: Civil rights groups raise major concerns
On 4 December 2018, a coalition of 31 civil society organisations published a letter that raises significant concerns regarding the proposal for a Regulation to prevent the dissemination of terrorist content online. The letter was addressed to the EU Member States’ Home Affairs Ministers, ahead of their meeting on 6 December.
While the undersigned organisations support the fight against terrorism as an important and legitimate goal for public policymakers, the measures contained in the Regulation risk an unbalanced arbitrariness that goes against the need for the safeguarding of civil liberties. In particular:
- The definitions in the proposal are too broad and should be brought in line with the current Terrorism Directive.
- The proposed proactive measures are not transparent and lack accountability.
- The “competent authorities” who will have the right to issue removal orders need to be clearly defined to ensure their independence.
- The proposed referrals risk to undermine the rule of law via the vague terms of service of internet companies.
As the Regulation in its current state risks to seriously undermine the EU fundamental rights framework, EDRi and the undersigned organisations call for a far-reaching reform of the proposal.
Letter on the proposal for a Regulation to prevent the dissemination of terrorist content online (04.12.2018)
https://edri.org/files/counterterrorism/20181204-CivilSociety_letter_TERREG.pdf
Terrorist content regulation – prior authorisation for all uploads? (21.11.2018)
https://edri.org/terrorist-content-regulation-prior-authorisation-for-all-uploads/
EU’s flawed arguments on terrorist content give big tech more power (24.10.2018)
https://edri.org/eus-flawed-arguments-on-terrorist-content-give-big-tech-more-power/
Joint Press Release: EU Terrorism Regulation – an EU election tactic (12.09.2018)
https://edri.org/press-release-eu-terrorism-regulation-an-eu-election-tactic/
EU Parliament’s anti-terrorism draft Report raises major concerns (10.10.2018)
https://edri.org/eu-parliaments-anti-terrorism-draft-report-raises-major-concerns/
