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On 19 April 2018 the Conseil d’Etat made public its opinion on the proposed legislation to combat fake news that is to be examined by Parliament in the next few weeks. Since the 2008 revision of the Constitution, the leader of either of the Assemblies may submit proposed legislation to the Conseil d’État for its opinion, and 2015 saw the end of the tradition of secrecy regarding such opinions. The Conseil d’Etat observed firstly that “French law already contains a number of provisions aimed, in substance, at combating the circulation of fake news, following various separate paths of logic”. Thus,...

According to media reports, the Landgericht Berlin (Berlin Regional Court - LG Berlin) decided in an interim procedure on 23 March 2018 (Case no. 31 O 21/18) that Facebook had acted unlawfully by deleting a user’s comment on the grounds of alleged breaches of its guidelines. The decision is significant, not least because it is the first time since the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (Network Enforcement Act - NetzDG) entered into force that a court has ruled on Facebook’s deletion strategy in a real-life case. The decision concerns events that took place in January 2018. A Facebook user had posted...

On 26 April 2018, the European Commission published the Communication on "Tackling online disinformation: a European approach", setting out the views of the Commission on the challenges associated with disinformation online. It was developed in consideration of consultations with citizens and stakeholders and of the report of the High Level Expert Group published on 12 March 2018 (see IRIS 2018-1/8 and IRIS 2018-5/7). Recognising the threat of online disinformation, particularly on policy making and electoral processes, and the cross-border dimension of online disinformation, the Communication...

On 25 May 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation became applicable, with the repeal of the previous Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) also becoming effective (see IRIS 1998-8/21). The GDPR is now binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all member states. While the GDPR is directly applicable, the date of 25 May 2018 is also the deadline for member states to notify the European Commission of any national legislation adopted pursuant to a number of Chapters and Articles in the GDPR, including Chapter VI on independent supervisory authorities for monitoring the...

On 13 April 2018, the Copenhagen Declaration on the reform of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) system was adopted following a High Level Conference in Copenhagen on 12 and 13 April 2018, under the Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The purpose of the Declaration is to address challenges facing the ECHR system and to find ways to improve the system. The Declaration begins with the States Parties to the ECHR reaffirming their deep and abiding commitment to the ECHR. Importantly, the State Parties reaffirm their strong attachment to the right...