Facebook May Be Told to Censor Users' Hateful Posts Globally
- Top court aide says law doesn’t limit content removal to EU
- Final ruling to clarify how social networks must police sites
Photographer: Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images
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Facebook Inc. may be ordered to remove offensive content posted by users in the European Union and then also hunt for similar posts anywhere in the world, according to an EU court opinion that the internet giant warned was a threat to freedom of speech.
Since the EU’s law for digital services and electronic commerce “does not regulate the territorial scope of an obligation to remove information disseminated via a social network platform, it does not preclude a host provider from being ordered to remove such information worldwide,” Advocate General Maciej Szpunar of the EU Court of Justice said Tuesday.