Europaudvalget 2018-19 (2. samling)
KOM (2018) 0640 Bilag 4
Offentligt
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Ref. Ares(2019)1056592 - 20/02/2019
DIMITRIS AVRAMOPOULOS
MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
MIGRATION
HOME AFFAIRS AND CITIZENSHIP
Isţţpean
Camibvâti
Sir JULIAN KING
MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
SECURITY UNION
Brussels,
Ares(2019)
21 02
·
20
«
Mr Erik Christensen
Chairman of the European Affairs Committee
Folketinget, Christiansborg
1240 Kobenhavn K
Denmark
Dear Chair,
I would like to thank the European Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament for its inquiry
regarding proactive measures in the proposal for a Regulation on preventing the dissemination of
terrorist content online {COM(2018) 640 final}.
Preventing and countering terrorism both offline and online is a priority for the Commission and the
proposal complements the work of the EU Internet Forum to reduce access to terrorist content
online. Despite the progress achieved through voluntary cooperation, terrorist content online
remains a clear and present danger to our society.
To address these challenges, the Commission proposal aims at preventing the misuse of hosting
services for terrorist purposes, protecting the security of our citizens and ensuring the smooth
functioning of the digital single market. I am pleased that the European Affairs Committee of the
Danish Parliament shares the view that the subject matter is of utmost importance to the EU.
Given the speed and scale at which terrorist content is disseminated, obligatory proactive measures
are essential to tackle the problem effectively. Terrorist propaganda is spread across multiple
platforms and disseminated at great speed: one third of all links to Da'esh propaganda, for example,
is shared within the first hour of being released.
Recital 18 of the proposal notes that the measures taken by the companies could include ensuring
that a piece of content removed as a result of a removal order does not re-appear, checking against
publicly or privately-held tools containing known terrorist content or use reliable tools to identify
new terrorist content, either using those available on the market or those developed by the hosting
service provider.
 kom (2018) 0640 - Bilag 4: Kommissionens svar på Europaudvalgets spørgsmål om begrænsning af online terrorindhold (engelsk)
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Some examples of tools already in use include the database of hashes, a platform which is used to
tackle the dissemination of identified harmful content across different hosting service providers.
Additionally, Twitter has launched a URL sharing initiative, the Counter Extremism Project offers
the E-Glyph tool. The impact assessment accompanying the proposal provides further information
and analysis on the possible tools to be deployed.
On a general note, we would like to clarify that only those hosting service providers exposed to
terrorist content are required to put in place proactive measures. Importantly, it is primarily for
hosting service providers to determine proactive measures to be put in place, taking into account the
exposure to terrorist material, the specificities of their services as well as the financial resources
thereby ensuring the obligation remains proportionate and technology neutral. Given the wide
variety of hosting service providers the Regulation is addressed to, it is important to ensure
flexibility in the application of this obligation, as such proactive measures need not only to
constitute fully automated detection tools. Hosting service providers may deploy non-automated
and semi-automated measures to protect their services against terrorist content to comply with
obligations in Article 6.
Discussions between the co-legislators concerning the proposal are now underway. The Council
adopted a General Approach on 6 December 2018 and the European Parliament has started the
preparation of its report. Given the importance and urgency of adopting this proposal, the
Commission remains hopeful that an agreement will be reached before the end of the Parliament’s
term. We are confident that the Danish government, with the appropriate involvement of the Danish
Parliament, will continue to play an active and constructive role in the ongoing discussions.
Yours faithfully,
Dimitris AVRAMOPOULOS
Sir Julian KING
Electronically signed on 19/02/2019 16:35 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563