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French Law on Removing Objectionable Online Content Rejected As Too Broad

By Anne Bagamery
July 01, 2020

A new French law that would have required such social media platforms as Facebook to take down objectionable content within 24 hours has been rejected by France's Constitutional Council as a disproportionate response to the proliferation of hate speech online.

The ruling is a limited victory for free-speech advocates and a temporary reprieve for Facebook and other platforms, which under the new law would have faced heavy costs for real-time mediation of content and heavy fines for failure to comply, media lawyers told Law.com International.

France's Conseil Constitutionnel, the equivalent of the Supreme Court, ruled on June 18 that the new Loi Avia, which had passed both houses of the French parliament, would infringe "freedom of expression and communication" in a way that was "not appropriate, necessary and proportionate to the goal being pursued."

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