Terrorist Content Online Regulation
Regulation (EU) 2021/784
With the Internet as a communication platform, terrorist organizations and individuals have found new ways to spread extremist ideas, recruit followers and plan terrorist acts. The rapid spread of terrorist content via the internet poses a serious threat to public security in the EEA. Against this background, the EU has adopted Regulation (EU) 2021/784 on combating the dissemination of terrorist content online (Terrorist Content Online Regulation; TCO Regulation).
The aim of the TCO Regulation is to effectively combat terrorist content online within the EEA and to ensure the swift removal of such content. In order to ensure the swift removal of terrorist content online, the competent national authorities can issue removal orders to hosting service providers, which the providers must comply with within one hour.
Addressees of the TCO Regulation
The Regulation applies to all hosting service providers that offer their services within the EU or the EEA. It is irrelevant whether the providers have their main establishment in a Member State.
The term “hosting service provider” under the TCO Regulation differs from common usage. According to the TCO Regulation, hosting service providers are service providers that:
- Provide services for the storage and dissemination of information by technical means on the Internet; and,
- store the information provided by a content provider on behalf of the content provider.
Providers of “pure conduit services”, “caching services” or other services that do not involve storage, such as registries or providers of domain name systems (DNS), are therefore not included in the scope of application.
Obligations of hosting service providers
The TCO Regulation imposes the following obligations on hosting service providers, among others:
- Comply with removal orders within one hour (Art. 3 para. 3 and Art. 4 para. 1 and 2 TCO Regulation),
- Establishment of a contact point (Art. 15 TCO Regulation),
- Appointment of a legal representative if there is no main establishment in the EEA (Art. 17 TCO Regulation),
- Establishment of a complaints mechanism to restore unjustified blocking of content (Art. 10 in conjunction with Art. 5 TCO Regulation).
There is no obligation to proactively monitor or actively search for terrorist content online or an obligation to use automated tools. If such tools are used in the area of content moderation, human review must be ensured.
Effects on Liechtenstein
The TCO Regulation entered into force in the EU on June 7, 2021 and has been applicable since June 7, 2022. The TCO Regulation is currently in the EEA adoption process and will be directly applicable in Liechtenstein once it has been incorporated into the EEA Agreement. The national authorities responsible for enforcing the TCO Regulation are still to be determined as part of the national implementation process.
As the Regulation is already fully applicable in the EU, Liechtenstein hosting service providers that provide their services in the EU must already comply with the new rules.
Regulation text and status EEA adoption
More information
Information from the European Commission
Contact
Dr. iur. Angelika Layr