Debate: Preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online
Date: WEDNESDAY, 28 APRIL 2021
Speaker: Patryk Jaki
Country: Slovenia
Language: EN

As an example, I will use the long—standing statement of Umar Patek, the organiser of terrorist attacks on Bali in which more than 200 people were killed. He said, during his trial, for those who do not know how to commit Jihad, they should understand that there are several ways to know Jihad. This is not the Stone Age. This is the internet age. We have Facebook, we have Twitter. As he said, this is what happened. The internet has become the most important safe haven and tool for terrorists today. On the internet, terrorists recruit by spreading propaganda, including among children and young people. They provide attacks and violence from the internet, spreading propaganda to youngsters and children. There they show their attack, call for attack and spread a radical agenda.  As a continuation, let me show some examples. In 2020, Facebook removed 43.4 million pieces of content of a terrorist nature or containing incitement to attack. In the previous year, it was 25.5 million pieces of content, so as you can see, it is a significant increase with the advent of pandemics and people being locked in their homes. In 2019, Twitter reported that it blocked more than 300 000 accounts linked to a terrorist organisation or used to spread terrorist propaganda both linked to radical Islam and to left- and right-wing extremes. In 2016, it was 100 000 accounts, so one can see an upward trend.  Today, terrorist groups have their own media, magazines, editors. The internet and modern technology have allowed terrorist groups to post content that they fully control. A staff of specialists from such terrorist groups prepares professional information and propaganda campaigns, documentaries and magazines published online. They’ve directed executions. That is why our response was needed.  The regulation will allow Member State to immediately remove terrorist content. It has introduced, among others, the principle of one hour, which means that the most dangerous content will be removed as soon as possible after publication. For example, Member States finally received a working tool to stop live broadcasting from a terrorist attack or mass shooting. This is a groundbreaking project and the first in the history of the EU that implements such a powerful tool in cross-border cooperation between Member States in this area. One country will have the right to send a removal order to another country. The order will apply to everyone in the EU, including those outside the EU. Failure to comply with the order will result in large financial penalties.  The new regulation will help to counter the spread of extremist ideology online. The regulation will ensure that what is illegal offline is illegal online. Removal orders can be sent by any Member State to any online platform established within the EU. However, according to the compromise reached, the authorities of the Member States where the content host is located will have 72 hours to analyse and possibly challenge the withdrawal order if it sees, for example, a clear violation of freedom of expression. In addition, we are carrying a new framework for the cooperation between public institutions and the private sector.  We will all now have a duty to act in solidarity to tackle terrorism. This regulation will ensure that the online platforms play a more active role in detecting terrorist content online and that such content is removed within a maximum of one hour. At the same time, potential threats to freedom have been removed. There will be no mandatory filtering of the internet. New safeguards for freedom of speech, freedom of press and media, as well as freedom for legal content, for instance, journalists’ research, artists, educational content, too. Moreover, it safeguards content which represents an expression of polemics or controversial views in the course of public debate. It was a very difficult project. Thanks to the involvement of Parliament’s excellent negotiation team, whom I would like to thank, it was possible to reach a compromise. I would also like to thank the Commissioner and the Council. I strongly believe that the Terrorist Content (TC) Regulation is a good and balanced text which balances security and the freedom of speech and expression on the internet, protecting legal content and access to information for every citizen in the EU. It is a new tool based on mutual cooperation and trust between States fighting together in the one cause against terrorists. The Europe Union today has gained a powerful new tool to fight terrorists, and this is very good information for our community.