Tech Giants Pledge To Fight Online Hate Speech

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Meta's Facebook, Elon Musk's X, Google's YouTube, and other tech companies have pledged to intensify their efforts against online hate speech (which is prevalent in social media platforms). This is part of the European Union's updated Code of Conduct integrated into the Digital Services Act, or DSA. The DSA demands that tech platforms combat illegal and harmful content. Companies will let experts monitor their review of hate speech notices, and act on them within 24 hours. This move aims to create safer online spaces for everyone, and ensure stricter regulation compliance.

This new Code of Conduct, retitled Code of Conduct+, is a new addition into the Digital Services Act of the European Union. The code builds on the original 2016 Code of Conduct. This new code has already been signed by many well-known tech companies, including Dailymotion, Facebook, Instagram, Jeuxvideo.com, LinkedIn, Microsoft hosted consumer services, Snapchat, Rakuten Viber, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube. The Code of Conduct+ will monitor company reporting systems for online platforms. This will check whether or not a company has functioning methods to deal with individuals posting harmful or illegal content. An example of this would be having an auto-flagging system that can identify and report hate speech. Another policy that the signers of the Code of Conduct+ must follow is that they must review at least 2/3 of all hate speech notices and reports within a timeframe of 24 hours. The companies must also raise user awareness regarding online hate speech and ensure that users know how to flag illegal/harmful online content. These rules, along with many others, will help keep online platform experiences safe for everyone.