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Mapping Internet Regulations: Online Terrorist Content

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ActiveFence provides a searchable interactive guide to the legislation of over 60 countries that govern online terrorist content.

Gideon Freud

Apr 12, 2022

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Austria

Internet platforms must remove terrorist content within 24 hours of notification (7 days in more complex cases), and one hour after a formal removal notice. They must determine which measures to put in place to reduce their exposure to terrorist content while maintaining the Right to Information.

Fines for non-compliance range between €10,000 and €58,000.

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021; Communications Platform Act (January 1, 2021)

Bulgaria

Internet platforms must remove terrorist content one hour after the receipt of a removal notice, they must determine which measures to put in place to reduce their exposure to terrorist content while maintaining the Right to Information.

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

France

Internet platforms must remove terrorist content one hour after the receipt of a removal notice, they must determine which measures to put in place to reduce their exposure to terrorist content while maintaining the Right to Information.
Platforms may be required to disclose information about their algorithms and content moderation process.
Authorities may require an internet service to block access to a terrorist site.
Heavy fines and jail sentences are introduced for terror content creators, across the web, including messaging apps

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021; Law on strengthening the provisions relating to the fight against terrorism 2014; Respect for the Principles of the Republic 2021 2021 Amendment

Germany

Internet platforms must remove terrorist content one hour after the receipt of a removal notice, they must determine which measures to put in place to reduce their exposure to terrorist content while maintaining the Right to Information.
Terrorist content must be removed within 24 hours of notification, with mandatory bi-annual transparency reports.
Platforms are required to present user information, IP, and passwords to police, in cases where users express terrorist intent.

Failure to comply carries fines of up to EUR 50M.

Audiovisual Media Services Directive; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021; Network Enforcement Act 2017; 2020 amendment

Greece

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Hungary

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Ireland

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Italy

Internet platforms must remove terrorist content one hour after the receipt of a removal notice, they must determine which measures to put in place to reduce their exposure to terrorist content while maintaining the Right to Information.
Authorities may request that ISP’s block, remove the content of, or ban access to identified terrorism-associated websites.
For User Generated Content (UGC) – Illegal content must be removed.

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Article 2 of Decree Law 7/2015

Latvia

Internet platforms must remove terrorist content one hour after receiving a removal notice, and they must determine which measures to put in place to reduce their exposure to terrorist content while maintaining the Right to Information.

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Lithuana

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Luxembourg

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Malta

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Netherlands

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Poland

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Portugal

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Romania

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Slovakia

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Slovenia

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Spain

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Sweden

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

Russia

A court-ordered shutdown may be received by media platforms after receiving two warnings for publishing incitement to terrorism, extremism, or propaganda of violence.
High fines for noncompliance with a variety of communication regulations, including data localization requirements, requirements for messaging apps to hand over encryption keys, requirements for search engines to connect to Roskomnadzor’s blacklist, and requirements for “information dissemination organizers” to retain user data and provide them to the authorities.
Fines for disseminating calls for extremist or terrorist activities, along with other categories of prohibited information.

Article 4 of the Law on Mass Media 1991; Federal Law No. 405-FZ, December 2019

Belarus

The Belarusian Ministry of Interior can block access to an internet resource without a court order, if that outlet has received two written warnings in one year, or publishes content “threatening national security.

Mass Media Law: amended April 21, 2021

Australia

Law establishes prohibited content.
Content, internet, and hosting providers must remove access to, and report abhorrent violent conduct that is happening in Australia and is accessible or hosted on their services, within a reasonable time.
Content that promotes, instructs, incites, or depicts abhorrent violent content must be removed within 24 hours.

Broadcasting Services Act 1992; The Online Content Scheme; Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material – Division 474.32 of the Criminal Code; The Online Safety Act 2021
signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action

Canada

Internet service providers are required to remove “any materials that promote or encourage acts of terrorism against Canadians in general, or the commission of a specific attack against Canadians” from a website.
Canada is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Canada Anti-Terrorism Act 2015; Christchurch Call To Action May 2019

New Zealand

New Zealand prohibits the broadcast or online publication of content that depicts acts of torture, the infliction of serious physical harm, or acts of significant cruelty; and promotes or encourages criminal acts or acts of terrorism. This was used to classify the Christchurch terrorist attack video as objectionable, making it illegal to hold and distribute.
It prohibits and requires the removal of violent video content that describes or depicts acts of torture, sexual violence or sexual coercion or violence or coercion in association with sexual conduct; or promotes or encourages criminal acts or acts of terrorism.

Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993; Broadcasting Act 1989

United Kingdom

The UK has laid out an interim code to tackle terrorist content online.
Companies should identify and prevent terrorist content and activity from being accessible to UK users on their services;
Companies should minimize the potential for searches to return results linking to terrorist content and activity; promote holistic and effective approaches to tackling terrorist use of the internet. They should implement effective user reporting, complaints, and timely redress processes to ensure users are empowered and protected; and support the investigation and prosecution of individuals for terrorist offenses in the UK in line with existing legal frameworks and voluntary reporting measures.

Interim codes of practice on terrorist content and activity online

United States

The US Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of speech and prevents the government from infringing on this right.
Section 230‘s classification of internet intermediaries as non-publishers, provided intermediary liability protections for platforms from user-generated content in the US. As a result, the government has limited ability to compel terrorist content to be removed from an online platform.
The US has recently signed up the Christchurch Call To Action, a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution; Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act

Argentina

Argentina is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

Chile

Chile is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

Colombia

Colombia is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

Peru

Peru is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

Japan

Japan is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

Indonesia

Social media companies must ensure that their platforms do not contain or facilitate the spread of “restricted content”, which includes “hate speech” and “blasphemy” online.
The penalty for social media companies for not complying with this requirement is a fine between (approximately) 580 and 2800 Euros as well as administrative sanctions and suspending their networks.
Indonesian law prohibits incitement to conduct terrorist acts without reference to the form of communication used by the perpetrator. It was used to prosecute an individual who registered and hosted a terrorist-supporting website on behalf of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group.
Indonesia is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Digital Platform Law (PP PSTE no. 71/2019 on the Government Regulation on the Implementation of Electronic and Transaction System 2020; Article 14 of Law No. 15/2003 on the elimination of acts of terrorism; Christchurch Call To Action

Singapore

All internet content and service providers operating In Singapore must prohibit and remove “objectionable content.” This includes content that glorifies, incites, or endorses ethnic, racial, or religious hatred, strife, or intolerance.
Government ministers can order individuals and online platforms to post corrections or take down content that is assessed by the minister to be false or “against the public interest”.
Platforms that do not comply with a correction or removal order are fined “up to S$1,000,000 per day for every day the content remains uncorrected/unremoved.”

Internet Regulatory Framework Internet Code of Practice 2016; Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019

South Korea

South Korea is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

China

Companies are responsible for the information published on their platforms. They must also operate content management mechanisms, have clear rules on content governance and response systems to detect ‘rumors’; and receive user complaints and reports.
Failure to comply carries civil and criminal liabilities for operators.
Companies must also provide law enforcement with information to identify users, as well as encryption keys.
They must adopt proactive measures to prevent the sharing of extremism and report terrorist content, keeping original records, while deleting such content to reduce circulation.

Cyber Security Law 2017; Provisions on the Governance of Network Information Content Ecology 2015; China’s Counter-Terrorism Law 2015

Vietnam

Spreading false information is criminalized under specified conditions, and is intended to be used against “enemy and reactionary forces” who incite protests, riots, and terrorism.

Law 24 on Cybersecurity

Bangladesh

A seven-year prison sentence and a fine of up to 500,000 BDT (roughly 5,800 USD) for creating anarchy using digital media. The law does not extend liability for UGC to platforms that exercise due diligence.

Digital Security Act 2018

India

Platforms should detect, assess and remove terrorist content quickly and accurately to fully comply while upholding the values of free speech.
Social media companies must remove material that “threatens the unity, integrity, defense, security or sovereignty of India” within thirty-six hours of notification.
India is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021; Christchurch Call To Action

Switzerland

Switzerland is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action May 2019

Pakistan

Social media companies must “deploy proactive mechanisms to ensure prevention of live streaming through Online Systems in Pakistan any content related to terrorism, extremism, hate speech, defamation, fake news, incitement to violence, and national security.”

Citizen’s Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020

South Africa

Platforms should remove user-generated content that contains sexual conduct, that “violates or shows disrespect for the right to human dignity of any person; degrades a person; or constitutes incitement to cause harm; advocates propaganda for war; incites violence; or advocates hatred based on any identifiable group characteristic and that constitutes incitement to cause harm.” The Review Board can order its removal.

FBP Online Regulation Policy 2016; Films Publication Act 1965

Uganda

Platforms are required to fulfill the “duties of a licensee and producer,” and ensure that hosted content does not promote ethnic prejudice and violence, is not likely to create public insecurity or violence, and is in compliance with the existing law.
The UCC to fine an operator up to ten percent of its gross annual revenue, and suspend or revoke a license.
The willful and repeated use of electronic communication to disturb or attempt to “disturb the peace,” can result in imprisonment of up to one year

The Anti-Terrorism Act 2002; The Uganda Communications Act 2013; The Computer Misuse Act, 2011

Egypt

Social media accounts, blogs, or websites with more than 5,000 followers are classified as media outlets and placed under the supervision of the Supreme Council for the Administration of the Media. This entity has the power to block websites and file criminal complaints against platforms and users accused of offenses that are considered to constitute a threat to national security, disturb public peace, promote discrimination, violence, racism, hatred, or intolerance.

Law on the Organization of Press, Media and the Supreme Council for Media No.180

Ethiopia

Internet intermediaries are liable for policing content. Social media services must act within 24 hours to remove incendiary content upon receiving notifications about such communication or post.

Hate Speech and Disinformation Prevention and Suppression Proclamation 2020 2020:

Morocco

The government is able to filter and delete content that is deemed to “disrupt public order by intimidation, force, violence, fear, or terror” and assigns legal liability to anyone who helps the author to disseminate justification of terrorism, which would include website owners and ISPs.
There is also a penalty of 2 to 6 years imprisonment, and a fine of 10,000 to 200,000 dirhams, for anyone who defends acts of terrorism using various audio-visual and electronic means.

Law relating to the fight against terrorism 2003

Nigeria

Nigeria’s counter-terrorism framework contains the provisions for gathering intelligence from service providers and sharing information with foreign governments on terrorist use of the internet.

The Anti-Terrorism Act, 2013

Kenya

Service providers are required to assist in the investigation of offenses expeditiously, identify dangerous users, and collect and provide information to investigation officers. Platforms are also required to remove content on receipt of a court order.

Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018

Israel

Israel’s Attorney General’s Office currently requests that inciting content be removed from social media platforms. This is not backed by regulation and therefore while some platforms comply, others do not.

Jordan

The Cybercrime Act 2019 added ‘smartphone applications’ into the scope of the preexisting Telecommunications Act. As a result, they must now comply with Article 29 of the Act. This considers any media or publishing material that “facilitates the commission and promotion of terrorist acts” to be terrorism, and requires applications to allow the monitoring of communication when a terrorist offense is suspected to be in progress.

Telecommunications Law (1995); Cybercrime Law 2019

Turkey

Social media platforms with over one million daily users will be obliged to appoint local representatives in Turkey who will be held accountable for legal matters.
Among other provisions such as storing users’ data in Turkey, the law forces social media companies to respond within 48 hours to user complaints or to judicial orders to remove content that is terroristic and inciting.
Penalties for non-compliance are fines of up to 1.5 million US Dollars.
Turkey’s Anti-Terrorism Law and Defamation Law is applied to online activity and instituted a prison sentence for those who publish and promote online propaganda of a terrorist organization.

Anti-Terrorism Law; Defamation Law; Law 7253 amending “Law No. 5651 on The Regulation of Publications

Mexico

Mexico is a signatory to the Christchurch Call To Action. This is a multi-national accord that lays out a best practice framework for technology platforms to identify, review and censor terrorist content and activity on social media, and for governments to build the framework and legal structures for this work.

Christchurch Call To Action

Brazil

Brazil explicitly exempts platforms from liability for user-generated content. However, this liability exemption is removed if a court order states the content was illegal. Once content is found to be illegal, platforms must remove the content or face legal liability.

Marco Civil Law of the Internet 2014

Belgium

Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council dissemination of terrorist content online 2021

ActiveFence Blog

Mapping Internet Regulations: Online Terrorist Content

Trust & Safety Challenges for Website Building Platforms

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