Report warns that content filtering mechanisms amount to “pre-publication censorship”
6 April 2018
A report by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations has concluded that requiring internet platforms to proactively monitor or filter content presents a risk to freedom of expression. The report warns against allowing private actors to make such determinations, particularly due to risks of inconsistency and the primarily economic motivations of the enforcers. The report recommends that:
“States and intergovernmental organisations should refrain from establishing laws or arrangements that would require the “proactive” monitoring or filtering of content, which is both inconsistent with the right to privacy and likely to amount to pre-publication censorship.”
Further details and a PDF download of the full report are available here.