Internet Content Control Is Here, UN Special Rapporteur Warns IGF

“Internet content regulation is coming, in fact it is already here,” said David Kaye, United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, during a panel organised by the Global Network Initiative on day one of the 12th Internet Governance Forum in Geneva this week.

The examples presented for the trend to block more and more controversial content were not from authoritarian countries, though. “You can best see this trend in Europe at the moment,” Kaye said.

He pointed to the European Commission‘s Code of Conduct on hate speech, developed with four big platform providers, to the EU Commission‘s announcement to set up a high level working group to address the handling of fake news by providers and the European Court‘s of Justice decision on the right to be forgotten.

In various forms, content is regulated very often, according to Kaye, by governments putting pressure on providers. Kaye also was highly critical about the draft new EU Copyright Directive, which he warned could “change the notice and take-down procedure into a take-down machine.”

Another example which will become effective on 1 January 1 is the German Network Enforcement legislation (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz), mentioned by Emma Llanso, director, Free Expression Project, Center for Democracy and Technology (US).

Llanso, who was one of the authors of a recent study on the automation and filtering, said the most concerning was the “increasing casualness how we speak about speech being illegal.” One big concern is that the need to automatize filtering vast arrays of content will lead to smaller companies being out-priced.

To show that it was not only Europe that went down the road to content control, Chinmayi Arun, research director, Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, reported that in India, shutdowns to prevent violent outbreaks have become a frequent regulatory mechanism instead of a one per year event.

Kaye is still collecting statements on a new report on the content regulation established by private actors pressured by governments. He said he also would accept statements up until the end of December.

 

Image Credits: Monika Ermert