Paris (AFP)

Judging certain provisions that violate freedom of expression, the Constitutional Council censored Thursday the heart of the Avia law against online hatred, a "great victory" for the associations of the net and a "heavy defeat" of the majority for the oppositions.

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 text carried by the deputy LREM Lætitia Avia provided for platforms and search engines the obligation to remove "manifestly" illegal content within 24 hours, under penalty of fines of up to 1.25 million euros.

The Council considered that this measure could "incite the operators of on-line platform to withdraw the contents which are announced to them, whether or not they are manifestly illicit".

He therefore considered that "the legislator has infringed freedom of expression and communication which is not adapted, necessary and proportionate to the aim pursued".

The Constitutional Council also censored the provision providing for an hour's withdrawal for terrorist or child pornography content in the event of notification by the public authorities.

These two censors mechanically entail that of other articles of the text, by domino effect.

"The Constitutional Council judges that the chosen means may not be the best. I take it as a roadmap," reacted Ms. Avia to AFP.

"I know that this is a long-term fight and that requires awareness. It has become a social debate, the subject is no longer underplayed, which is positive," added the elected representative, stressing that the health crisis and the intensified use of social networks had led to "a 56% increase in hate content according to the France Digitale report in May".

"The law is beheaded in the public square," welcomed AFP Bruno Retailleau, the leader of the LR senators who had filed an appeal in the name of defending "freedom of expression".

"We must not entrust to the Gafa the exorbitant power to privatize the censorship and to hinder the freedom of expression", he reaffirmed, seeing in the decision of the Sages "a victory for the lovers of freedom" and "a disavowal for all those who make a profession of good-will".

- The government "disowned" -

In addition to LR, the extreme left and extreme right had spoken out against this text in Parliament.

"The government collides with the rule of law," reacted the president of the National Gathering Marine Le Pen, for whom the Avia law "was an unprecedented attack on freedom of expression".

"Heavy defeat for (the Minister of Justice Nicole) Belloubet. The liberticide will in failure", tweeted the leader of the rebels Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

According to a marketer, "the government has never been comfortable with this text", which had aroused many reservations beyond the political world, in particular the National Digital Council, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights 'Man, or Quadrature du Net, who defends individual freedoms in the digital world.

The latter hailed Thursday "a great collective victory after more than a year of struggle". "The Constitutional Council has disowned the government in its entire digital strategy, which is completely outdated. This is not how we regulate the internet," said Arthur Messaud, lawyer at Quadrature du Net.

"The law had the last word!" Welcomed Christiane Féral-Schuhl, president of the National Bar Council, while the Association of Community Internet Services (Asic), which counts Google and Facebook among its members, pushed "a big sigh of relief".

On the other hand, the Chief Rabbi of France Haïm Korsia regretted a decision "which clearly illustrates the mistakes of our society to fight effectively and with absolute determination this scourge".

He "urges that all means be used to combat hatred, as this law provided for".

© 2020 AFP