On 30 April, the European Commission opened a public consultation on measures to further improve the effectiveness of the fight against illegal content online. The European Institutions have been increasingly interested in the issue of illegal content online, particularly in the view of the continued dissemination of terrorist content or illegal hate speech. To address these growing concerns, the European Commission has been presenting different initiatives aiming at understanding better and tackling the spread of illegal content online, in particular terrorist content, child sexual abuse material or illegal commercial practices and counterfeits or other illicit goods.
Following the Communication with guidance on the responsibilities of online service providers in respect of illegal content online published in September 2017 and a Recommendation on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online adopted on 1 March 2018, the European Commission is now seeking additional evidence and data. The Commission set as objectives of the consultation the gathering of additional evidence on current practices and policies to tackle illegal content online, but also opinions as to potential policy options. It will welcome comments until 25 June.
The responses to the online consultation will help the Commission assess the effectiveness of the measures in place and the scale of the problem, to further explore, by the end of 2018, the need for new measures to improve the effectiveness of the fight against illegal content online.
More information on this topic can be found in the feedback that Ecommerce Europe sent to the European Commission on its Inception Impact Assessment on Measures to further improve the effectiveness of the fight against illegal content online
Ecommerce Europe, in cooperation with other tech and rights groups had raised in the past some concerns about certain policy options considered by the European Commission in the past, and will therefore continue to engage in a constructive dialogue to discuss the best way to tackle illegal content online without harming disproportionately the e-commerce sector.