The European Parliament has approved an EU regulation requiring hosting providers to take down content inciting terrorism within one hour of notification. The is the final stage in the legislative process, and the regulation will take full effect 12 months after it is published in the EU's official journal. In the mean time, it will be up to the individual EU countries to designate an enforcement body and set penalties for hosting companies that don't adhere to the new rules.
The regulation covers text, images, sound recordings and videos, including live transmissions, that incite, solicit or contribute to terrorist offences, provide instructions for such offences or solicit people to participate in a terrorist group. In line with the definition of offences included in the EU Directive on combating terrorism, it will also cover material that provides guidance on how to make and use explosives, firearms and other weapons for terrorist purposes.
Hosting service providers will have to remove or disable access to flagged terrorist content in all EU states within one hour of receiving a removal order from the competent authority. The penalties for non-compliance are expected to be proportional to the nature of the breach and the size of company responsible.
In a statement, the Parliament stressed that there will be no general obligation to filter or monitor content for offensive materials. However, when competent national authorities have established a hosting service provider is exposed to terrorist content, the company will have to take specific measures to prevent its propagation. It will then be up to the service provider to decide what specific measures to take, with no obligation to use automated tools.
In addition, the companies should publish annual transparency reports on what action they have taken to stop the dissemination of terrorist content.
