In its order consulted by AFP, the Court notes "the insufficiency of the information communicated" by the company "with regard to the requirements" of this court decision.

On January 20, 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal had confirmed a decision rendered in July 2021 by the judicial court that ordered the social network to detail its moderation mechanisms and fight against hateful and discriminatory comments.

At the origin of this procedure, a summons in May 2020 of SOS Racism, the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra) and SOS Homophobia, among others, who considered that the company was "old and persistently" failing to meet its obligations of moderation.

The court had ordered Twitter to communicate "any administrative, contractual, technical or commercial document relating to the material and human resources implemented" to "fight against the dissemination of the offenses of apology of crimes against humanity, incitement to racial hatred, hatred against people because of their sex".

In detail, the company under Irish law must also detail "the number, location, nationality, language of the persons assigned to the processing of reports from users of the French platform", "the number of reports", "the criteria and the number of subsequent withdrawals" as well as "the number of information transmitted to the competent public authorities, in particular to the prosecutor's office".

The associations based their request on the law for confidence in the digital economy (LCEN) of 2004, which requires platforms to "contribute to the fight" against online hate and in particular to "make public the means they devote to the fight against these illegal activities".

During the decision of the Court of Appeal, the associations had welcomed that "the French justice shows that the GAFA can not impose their own law".

"Twitter will finally have to take responsibility, stop squandering and think ethics rather than profit and international expansion," they added.

"Our top priority is to ensure the safety of people using our platform," the company said at the time. "We are committed to building a safer internet, fighting online hate, and improving the serenity of public conversation."

© 2023 AFP