I have voted in favour of this report, dealing with the dissemination of terrorist content online.
Europe has been facing an evolving terrorist threat over the past years.
According to a report by the High-Level Commission Expert Group on Radicalisation (May 2018), internet featured in almost every 2017 attack. It is being used to disseminate instructions before attacks and to spread propaganda before and after attacks. Terrorist groups recruit many members online.
This text aims at reducing extremist content online by providing for duties of care to be applied by any hosting service providers in the EU while taking action against such content. Member States will need to ensure that competent authorities have sufficient capability and resources to enforce the removal orders. The report endorses cooperation among the national authorities, to avoid duplicating work and interference with ongoing investigations.
I welcome these consultation and cooperation procedures between the competent national authorities that take into account special circumstances for a removal order affecting the fundamental interests of a Member State.
Finally, feasibility of the delay for the removal of objectionable content on small platforms has been questioned. However, at no moment, should any fine tuning of measures being undertaken give the impression that we are being soft on terrorism.