EU pledges to step up fight against hate crimes

Following a spike in antisemitic and anti-Muslim attacks throughout the continent, the European Commission promised on Wednesday to provide additional funding to safeguard places of worship and stricter regulations for social media companies.

“Europe is experiencing an alarming increase in hate speech and hate crime and evidence shows that Jewish and Muslim communities are particularly affected,” the commission said in a statement.

The commission announced that it would augment funding for safeguarding houses of worship by 30 million euros, which would include an additional 5 million euros ($5.4 million) to tackle the growing danger of antisemitic incidents.

According to Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, in the first fortnight following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, anti-Semitic occurrences in Austria surged 300% over 2022, while in the Netherlands, they increased 800% over the previous month’s average.

In addition to the recently imposed harsher regulation for large online platforms, the Commission stated that it would press for stronger regulations to combat illegal hate speech online under a code of conduct agreed with online platforms, to be ratified within the next three months.

The present code of conduct was established in 2016 after Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Microsoft pledged to address hate speech online in Europe within a day. Since then, more platforms have joined it, including LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.

When questioned about particular DSA activities, Vera Jourova, vice president of the Commission, stated that the organisation was gathering information and proof that may show “some of the very large online platforms are or might not be fully compliant with the requirements.”

“These platforms are now receiving letters with a concrete set of questions stemming from our findings and observation of what we see online,” she stated.

If a company is found to be in violation of the DSA, it may be fined up to 6% of its worldwide revenue, and repeat offenders may not be allowed to operate in Europe at all.

The Commission declared that it would enhance support for fact checkers in the EU and the Arab speaking world, and that it would promote training for journalists on respecting media norms and identifying hate speech.

(With agency inputs)