GENEVA: On Wednesday, UN authorities advised that the UK and other nations drafting legislation to regulate internet content, including racial abuse, should avoid too broad definitions and over-reliance on algorithms, which might stifle free speech (Jul 14). In the previous two years, some 40 new laws regulating social media have been passed around the world, including Vietnam’s 2019 cybersecurity law, which experts say has been used to erase posts and imprison anyone who express critical viewpoints.
“Virtually every government that has implemented rules dealing to internet content has jeopardized human rights,” Peggy Hicks, a senior official with the UN Human Rights Office, said during a press conference.
“This occurs both because governments respond to public pressure by rushing in with simplistic remedies for complicated problems, and because some governments use this law as a method to limit speech they detest and even muzzle civil society or other opponents,” she explained.
After England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday, black players in the team were treated to a barrage of racist internet abuse, bringing widespread condemnation.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to toughen laws against online racial abuse of soccer players, including barring spectators from games if they are found guilty of such offenses and fining social media companies if they fail to remove it.
When asked to comment on the proposed legislation in the United Kingdom, Hicks said: “First and foremost, I believe we must recognize that you cannot wave a magic wand and make racism on the Internet vanish… The truth is that what we see online reflects what people face on a daily basis offline.” “To prevent racist speech through algorithm – the type of speech we’ve seen in this case – you’d need a fairly comprehensive strategy that would surely block more speech than we’d want to see blocked,” she continued. The Digital Services Act, introduced by the European Union (EU) in December, mandates internet companies to do more to combat unlawful content such as hate speech and child sexual abuse material. “The decisions taken in that legislation could have global ramifications,” said UN human rights officer Marcelo Daher, emphasizing positive aspects such as the openness requirements. “However, several contradicting signals persist, including the potential that firms could face overbroad liability for user-generated content and that court control would be limited,” he said./n
