A ruling by the European Union’s top court could force Facebook to take down certain content worldwide.
Currently host providers such as Facebook aren’t liable for illegal content on their platform if they have no knowledge of its nature of if they act to “expeditiously” remove it.
However, the European court of justice has found that while platforms are not liable, they can still be ordered by individual countries to remove the content, even if it extends beyond the country’s borders.
“EU law does not preclude a host provider such as Facebook from being ordered to remove identical and, in certain circumstances, equivalent comments previously declared to be illegal,” the court said in a statement.
“In addition EU law does not preclude such an injunction from producing effects worldwide, within the framework of the relevant international law which it is for Member States to take into account.”
The decision comes after Austrian politician Mme Eva Glawischnig-Piesczekn sued Facebook Ireland, seeking to have the social media company remove a comment that was considered harmful to her reputation.
Facebook has responded, saying the judgment raises “critical” questions around freedom of expression and the role internet companies should play in monitoring, interpreting and removing speech that might be illegal in any particular country.
“It undermines the long-standing principle that one country does not have the right to impose its laws on speech on another country,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
“It also opens the door to obligations being imposed on internet companies to proactively monitor content and then interpret if it is ‘equivalent’ to content that has been found to be illegal.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.