- E. Musk enters legal battle with Ireland
- E. Musk is angered by the government's desire to restrict freedom of expression
- Ireland aims to tackle terrorist content too
E. Musk enters legal battle with Ireland
Elon Musk's social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has taken legal action against the Irish Media Regulator. This is due to Ireland's new internet control and supervision rules[1].
Last week, the Twitter International Unlimited Company initiated judicial review proceedings in the Irish Supreme Court against the internet safety code introduced by the state regulator Coimisiún na Meán, which bans certain forms of audiovisual content containing "hate speech" throughout the European Union (EU).
The Code aims to transpose the European Commission's (EC) Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) into the Irish legal system. Unlike regulations and other decisions, directives are not directly applicable in all member states, but require their rules to be incorporated into national law.
"We believe it is important that the transposition of the AVMSD into Irish law does not impose obligations that go beyond the requirements of the AVMSD and potentially contravene the Digital Services Act. "Twitter International Unlimited Company reserves the right to challenge the legality of the Code. At this stage, we reserve our position and all rights regarding the legislative and procedural approach of Coimisiún na Meán, including the publication of further guidelines," the company said back in August.
Under the Code, tech companies headquartered in Ireland - a list that includes not only X, but also Meta, Reddit, Alphabet and the EU branches of many other companies - face a fine of up to €20 million or 10% of the platform's annual turnover if they fail to comply with the Coimisiún na Meán censorship.
E. Musk is angered by the government's desire to restrict freedom of expression
The Irish Parliament did not vote on incorporating the Code into national law despite the government's support for stricter online speech controls. This has drawn the ire of free speech campaigners both in Ireland and internationally.
E. Musk has also taken an interest in this innovation in Ireland: the billionaire, who acquired the social platform Twitter a few years ago and who has repeatedly claimed to be a strong advocate of free speech, has threatened to challenge the Irish government's proposed hate speech law in the courts if the country's legislature passes it.
International pressure eventually led to the bill being shortened and politicians removing all references to hate speech offenses from the document.
However, the document retained increased protection for those identifying as one of the many social genders. One national politician, Sharon Keoghan, actively criticized the Bill during a session of the Upper House and ironically read out a list of around 100 social genders.
Ireland aims to tackle terrorist content too
And Ireland is going further to control questionable content online. Ireland's media regulators have ordered X, TikTok and Meta to take "necessary measures" to prevent the distribution of terrorist content.
Ireland's media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, decided after investigations that the social media networks were "exposed to terrorist content due to weak security and content monitoring processes"[2].
The EU Regulation on terrorist content on the internet generally requires content to be removed within one hour of being instructed to do so. The Irish Media Commission has given social media platforms 12 weeks to take "effective, targeted and proportionate" measures to stop terrorist content while respecting free speech rights.
"TikTok, X and Meta will be required to take specific measures to protect their services from being used to disseminate terrorist content and to report to Coimisiún na Meán within three months of receiving the decision on the specific measures taken," the report says.
Among the measures they must take is to include provisions on the misuse of the platforms in their terms of use. If the Irish Commission considers the measures insufficient, it can impose fines of up to 4% of global revenues.
The EC has launched several investigations into online platforms since the new Digital Services Act on online harm came into force, but Ireland's media watchdog has a particularly important role to play as all tech companies in the EU have their headquarters in Dublin.
The scale of the problem facing Europe's regulators was highlighted in May when European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson revealed that more than 550 removal orders had been issued to remove content deemed dangerous since the Anti-Terrorism Regulation came into force.
