Paris Court Of Appeals Still Convicts Twitter For Putting Too Little Effort In Fighting Racist Content

Twitter is considered not doing enough to fight racist content. (photo; doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Twitter lost the trial in France. The microblog platform had to reveal details of what it was doing to tackle online hate speech in France.

The decision, issued by an appeals court in Paris on Thursday, January 19, gave victory to advocacy groups who said social media was not doing enough to stop hate speech on its platforms.

The decision provides ammunition for campaigners in other European countries who want tighter controls to prevent the spread of racist and discriminatory content on Twitter and other social media platforms.

The ruling also upheld a lower court ruling last year that ordered Twitter to provide details about the number, nationality, location and spoken language of the people it employed to moderate content on the French version of the platform.

The lower court's decision also required Twitter to disclose any contractual, administrative, commercial and technical documents that would help determine the financial and human resources that have been mobilized to combat online hate speech in France.

The appeals court also said it confirmed, in full, the first ruling and said Twitter must pay 1.500 euros (IDR 24321271) in damages to each of the six plaintiffs. A copy of the ruling has been seen by Reuters.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company's top priority at this time is to ensure the safety of the people who use the platform. He added that they were reviewing the court's decision. The US company also declined to comment on the financial and operational implications of the decision.

However, the campaigners were overjoyed. The six lobby groups that sued Twitter have stated that only a fraction of the hate messages were removed from the platform 48 hours after they were signaled.

"I'm tired of this government where everything is allowed and where 'nothing is forbidden'," said Marc Knobel, president of J'Accuse! (I Accuse), one of the groups, refers to the famous slogan that spread across the walls of Paris during the 1968 protests. "We have to stop this delusion: not everything has to be allowed in our society."

The ruling distinguishes France from countries such as Denmark, Britain, and the United States, as the country's strict anti-racism laws allow such litigation to succeed.

In France, racism and anti-Semitism are not considered public opinion, but are considered offenses.

Global tech giants have also been accused of doing too little to tackle online abuse. An upcoming EU regulation, the Digital Services Act (DSA), is slated to provide for quicker removal of illegal content, such as hate speech.

In May last year, the UK said a new law they were drafting would see social media companies be fined up to 10% of turnover or 18 million pounds (IDR 350 billion) if they fail to crack down on online offenses such as racism crimes. Even senior managers at social media companies could face criminal charges if they fail to comply with the law being drafted.