A host of content such as Facebook may be forced to remove globally comments deemed defamatory or abusive by a court of an EU country, said Thursday the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The jurisdiction established in Luxembourg was questioned by the Austrian Supreme Court on the interpretation to be given to a European directive of 2000 on electronic commerce.
At the origin of the dispute, an Austrian environmentalist had complained that a Facebook user brocarde on the social network, commenting on a press article explaining the support of the Austrian Greens to a measure favorable to refugees.
The link to the article shared by the user on his personal page had shown a picture of the elected. And he wrote a commentary in the photo in terms that were deemed offensive by an Austrian court, the EU Court of Justice said in a statement. MEP Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek said that the damage to her honor was all the more important because "this contribution could be accessed by every Facebook user", all over the world.
Questioned by the Supreme Court (the Oberster Gerichtshof), the European court considers that a court of an EU country "may require a host to delete" content or information reproducing what has been "declared illegal previously ". The host, such as the social network Facebook, may also be enjoined "to remove the information covered by the injunction or block access to them at the global level, within the framework of relevant international law for which it is the responsibility Member States to take account ".