At the end of a long and chaotic course, the Parliament adopted, Wednesday, May 13, the bill aiming to "put an end to the impunity" of hatred online. From July, platforms and search engines will be obliged to remove "manifestly" illegal content within 24 hours, under penalty of fines of up to 1.25 million euros. This includes incitement to hatred, violence, insults of a racist or even religious nature.
It is the first law passed without link with the coronavirus since the beginning of the epidemic in France. But according to Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O, "online hatred increased" during confinement and its perpetrators "felt more than ever untouchable".
May 13, 2020: #PPLCyberhaine is definitely voted!
A big thank you to all those who have mobilized for more than 2 years to carry this fight against hate on the Internet, put an end to impunity and build a new regulation of social networks 💪 pic.twitter.com/t4TQ6RmG6a
A referral to the Constitutional Council in sight
The majority as well as the UDI-Agir deputies for the most part voted in favor of this "bill of accountability" of the platforms while the socialists abstained. Conversely, right-wing parliamentarians, Liberties and Territories, La France insoumise and Le Rassemblement national opposed it, in the name of freedom of expression. Several also consider the provisions "ineffective" without European regulation.
A seizure by the right of the Constitutional Council is looming, while the leader of the senators Les Républicains, Bruno Retailleau, had castigated a text a few months ago a text confiding in GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) "the care of regulate public freedom ", seeing it as a" general surveillance society ".
The rebels defended a rejection motion, asking through Alexis Corbière what is "the urgency to put in place a liberticide law". The Communists boycotted the session, denouncing an "unacceptable functioning" of the National Assembly, while the presence of deputies is limited to 150 for health reasons.
🔴 #PPLCyberHaine is a liberticide law! 🔴
"Instead of massively screening the population and distributing free masks, you are implementing massive censorship!"
My intervention on #LoiAvia earlier in the hemicycle.
Share! #DirectAN #COVID ー 19 pic.twitter.com/YHKUR4UEYM
Chaotic law
In line with Emmanuel Macron's commitment since 2018 to strengthen the fight against racist and anti-Semitic hatred on the Internet, the bill had started its parliamentary journey in April 2019. It had then been fairly largely revised, as desired criticisms or observations, up to the European Commission, which asked for better targeting of the content in question.
The text has aroused many reservations, notably from the National Digital Council, the National Consultative Commission for Human Rights, or even La Quadrature du Net, which defends individual freedoms in the digital world.
While France wants to be at the forefront of the global regulatory movement, but struggles to advance the subject, Cédric O judges the balance "achieved" between freedom of expression and "efficiency".
With AFP
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