{"id":26570,"date":"2019-03-07T11:49:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T11:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ivir.nl\/projects\/twg\/press-release-3-6-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-03-07T11:49:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T11:49:46","slug":"press-release-3-6-2019","status":"publish","type":"vo_project","link":"https:\/\/www.ivir.nl\/nl\/projecten\/twg\/press-release-3-6-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release: Governments and industries from both sides of the Atlantic must protect freedom of speech even as they address online hate speech and disinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can find the press release here<\/a> in pdf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PRESS RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ditchley Park, U.K., March 6, 2019<\/em> \u2013 Freedom of speech must be protected even as governments and industries seek to reduce hate speech and disinformation, the Transatlantic High-Level Working Group on Content Moderation and Freedom of Expression (TWG) asserted following the group\u2019s first meeting last weekend. The February 28-March 3, 2019 inaugural session of the TWG at Ditchley Park focused on best practices and recommendations to assist governments, tech companies and civil society in addressing illegal and harmful online content. The High-Level Working Group includes European and North American members with backgrounds in government, civil society, industry and other institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile hate speech, incitement to violence, and disinformation have long been part of human culture, the internet has accelerated their spread and impact\u201d, Susan Ness, Distinguished Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and director of the working group, said. \u201cPoliticians and stakeholders are grappling at a frenzied pace with how to address such content, driven by the electoral calendar, and without fully considering transatlantic perspectives, freedom of expression or due process of law. Our role is to inject these values into the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to think of freedom of expression by design as an architectural precondition when talking about introducing limitations\u201d, Nico van Eijk, Director of the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam, added.<\/p>\n

The TWG extensively discussed the commonalities and challenges from a transatlantic perspective, using case studies on hate speech and incitement to violence to guide the discussions. These studies will be revised, based on the discussion, and will be published on the webpage of the project. General agreement was expressed on a variety of topics, including:<\/p>\n