Facebook can be forced to remove illegal posts worldwide after EU court ruling
The European Union’s highest court has ruled that courts within the EU can order Facebook to remove worldwide posts by users on the social network that have been declared illegal, in a major blow to the social media giant.
The European Court of Justice’s decision came after a former Austrian politician, Eva Glawisching-Piesczek, sought the removal of a disparaging Facebook post about her that could be seen by any Facebook user.
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The court ruled the post insulted and defamed Glawisching-Piesczek and should be removed, as should “equivalent” content posted by other users.
The decision represents a defeat for Facebook and other internet titans, as it places an greater responsibility on them to monitor their platforms for content ruled to be illegal.
“EU law dos not preclude a host provider like Facebook from being ordered to remove identical and, in certain circumstances, equivalent comments previously declared to be illegal,” the European Court of Justice 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.”
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Responding to the ruling, a Facebook spokesperson said the judgement “raises critical questions around freedom of expression” and “undermines the long-standing principle that one country does not have the right to impose its laws on speech on another country”.
“In order to get this right national courts will have to set out very clear definitions on what ‘identical’ and ‘equivalent’ means in practice. We hope the courts take a proportionate and measured approach, to avoid having a chilling effect on freedom of expression,” they added.