French Minister Of Justice And Google And Meta Make A Deal, Twitter Can Be Insinuated

French Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti. (photo: doc. twitter)

JAKARTA - France's Justice Minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, and tech giants Google and Meta agreed on Friday, February 4, that a clear legal framework is needed to enhance cooperation against online hate, in the country.

Social media and online platforms are currently facing a number of legislative proposals on both sides of the Atlantic that will require them to do more to fight hate speech and online disinformation.

In the EU, the Digital Services Act will force tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content on their platforms. They will also be fined up to 6% of global turnover for non-compliance.

"It's about time we adopted EU legislation so platforms don't have the last word," said Eric Dupond-Moretti, who hosted the meeting in the northern French city of Lille. "We need a clear and appropriate framework that respects free speech."

Google's chief legal adviser, Kent Walker, who took part in the meeting, told Reuters in comments in an email that the company welcomed the EU's plans to facilitate the sharing of digital evidence.

"We believe that e-Evidence regulations set a positive international precedent for supporting law enforcement needs while ensuring privacy and due process for users," said Walker, who is President, Global Affairs and Head of Law Office at Google.

While another social media giant, Twitter, did not send a representative to the meeting, it was heavily criticized by Dupond-Moretti ahead of the meeting.

"There will still be seats, there will be empty seats, and in front of these seats there will be a Twitter tag, to show they don't exist and regret it," he said.

Twitter said the company was staying away due to its own COVID rules, but was fully committed to working with authorities to make the internet safer.

Twitter last month lost a court battle over hate speech in France, when a judge said Twitter should disclose details of what it is doing to tackle online hate in the country.