Policy Observatory

Marietje Schaake uploaded a series of videos on YouTube of a debate in the Parliament and then she received a notice that one of her videos was removed by YouTube because it was against "community guidelines".

On 19th July, the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament approved two amendments to existing laws. One of the amendments aims at extending telecommunications data retention to 6 years, while the other gives Agcom, the communications regulator, powers to order takedown powers and blocking of online content without judicial oversight.

Germany’s opposition parties on Sunday called for the abolition of a new law that aims to rid social media of hate speech, saying it was wrong for private companies to be making decisions about whether posts are unlawful. The legislation, which came into force on Jan. 1, can impose fines of up to 50 million euros ($60.1 million) on sites that fail to remove hate speech promptly, raising fears that Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms could block more content than necessary.