EU Promised To Add Funds To Protect Places Of Worship And Apply Strict Rules For Social Media

JAKARTA - The European Commission on Wednesday 6 December promised to provide more funds to protect places of worship and apply tighter guidelines for social media companies after the surge in antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents across the entire continent.

"Europa has experienced an alarming increase in hate speech and crime, and evidence shows that the Jewish and Muslim communities were specifically affected," the statement from the commission said.

The commission announced that it would increase expenditure on the protection of places of worship by 30 million euros (IDR 502.4 billion), including an increase of 5 million euros (IDR83.7 billion) to overcome the increased antisemitism threat.

"In the first two weeks after the Hamas attack on October 7 on Israel, Austria recorded an increase in 300% in the antisemitic incident compared to 2022, while the Dutch saw an increase of 800% from the previous monthly average," Vice President of the Margaritis Schinas Commission said at a press conference.

The commission said it would encourage stronger rules to fight illegal online hate speech in the code of ethics signed with an online platform, which will be completed in the next three months, in addition to a tighter regulation for large online platforms that were introduced earlier this year in the Law Invite Digital Services (DSA).

The current code of ethics originated from 2016, when Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Microsoft agreed to overcome online hate speech within 24 hours in Europe. More platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, or LinkedIn have joined since then.

Asked about certain actions in DSA, Vice President Commission Vera Jourova said that they gathered data and evidence that might indicate that "Some online platforms are very large may or may not fully comply with the requirements."

"These platforms now receive a letter with a series of concrete questions based on our findings and observations of what we see online," she added.

Every company found violates DSA facing a fine of up to 6% of its global turnover, and repeated violators may be prohibited from operating in Europe altogether.