French court says Twitter must reveal measures on online hate

PARIS – A Paris court on Thursday ruled that Twitter must reveal its measures for fighting hate speech, in one of several cases thrashing out whether the French justice system has jurisdiction over the US social media giant.

Ireland-based Twitter International had appealed a July decision ordering it to share documents and details about its French moderation team and data on their activities against hate speech.

That case had been brought by several anti-discrimination groups over what they said was the company’s longstanding failure to properly moderate posts.

The appeals court on Thursday confirmed the first judgement and further ordered Twitter to pay 1,500 euros ($1,700) to the groups, including SOS Racisme, SOS Homophobie and the International League against racism and anti-Semitism (Licra).

In another Paris case, three victims of terrorist attacks who have suffered online harassment are suing Twitter France.

They argue it was the company’s fault that their cases against their harassers failed, as it did not provide identifying information that investigators had asked for.

In that case, Twitter France chief Damien Viel told a court last week that “I’m in charge of Twitter’s business development and nothing more”.

Providing data to the authorities was “up to the good will of Twitter International, which is outside French jurisdiction and can decide whether to cooperate or not,” his lawyer Karim Beylouni added.

In still another case in Versailles, just outside Paris, Twitter France has said it is unable to comply with a police request for information on people who sent insults and threats to a public official.

The local office says it does not store any information, with all data handled by the group’s European mothership based in Ireland.

But prosecutors have asked for fines as high as 75,000 euros against both Twitter France and manager Viel personally.