Paris (AFP)
At the end of a long chaotic journey, the Parliament adopted definitively Wednesday, via a final vote of the National Assembly, the law proposal of Laetitia Avia (LREM) aiming to "put an end to impunity" of the hate online, a text deemed "liberticide" by its detractors.
The deputies voted by show of hands on this text which provides from July for platforms and search engines the obligation to remove within 24 hours the content "manifestly" illegal, under penalty of being fined 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 on the menu unrelated to 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".
The majority as well as the UDI-Agir deputies for the most part voted in favor of this "bill of accountability" of the platforms, and the socialists abstained.
Worried about freedom of expression, the right-wing parliamentarians, Liberties and Territories, LFI and the RN opposed it, in a stormy atmosphere. Several also consider the provisions "ineffective" without European regulation.
A seizure by the right of the Constitutional Council is looming, while the leader of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, had castigated a text a few months ago confiding in GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) "the task of regulating public freedom ", seeing it as a" general surveillance society ".
In a barrage of honor, the Insoumis defended a rejection motion, asking by the voice of 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.
- "Horror" -
Marine Le Pen, for her part, came to defend the removal of the flagship measure, seeing it as "a real horror". "You are outsourcing censorship to the private sector" and the "role of the judge" disappears, accused the president of the RN.
But there is "in no case a withdrawal of the judicial authority", assured the Keeper of the Seals Nicole Belloubet, recalling the new "crime of non-withdrawal" for platforms and engines, as well as "the creation of specialized parquet ".
In line with Emmanuel Macron's commitment since 2018 to strengthening the fight against racist and anti-Semitic hatred that thrives on the internet, the bill had started its parliamentary journey in April 2019. It had then been fairly largely revised, at the option of criticism 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".
Large digital companies are showing their support for stepping up the fight against hate online, but the obligation to withdraw is worrying. Because it will force platforms to decide very quickly, at the risk of a cascade of controversies and legal conflicts.
In addition, the text provides for a series of new constraints for the platforms: transparency on means and results obtained, enhanced cooperation in particular with the justice system, increased attention to minors. The whole will be controlled by the Superior council of audio-visual.
This final vote came when Laetitia Avia was itself questioned by Mediapart for "repeated humiliations" and "remarks with a sexist, homophobic and racist connotation" against five former parliamentary collaborators. The elected representative of Paris, who denounces "false allegations", indicated that she would file a complaint for defamation.
"The fight against racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia" will be "probably the fight of my whole life", proclaimed in the hemicycle Mrs. Avia, lawyer of 34 years of profession, with black skin. Cédric O made her applaud by the majority, assuring that "to let think" the opposite "is an absolute nonsense".
© 2020 AFP