5th Ministerial Meeting of the EU Internet Forum in Luxembourg - Main contents

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European Commission - Upcoming events

7 October 2019: 5th Ministerial Meeting of the EU Internet Forum in Luxembourg

The news

In the margins of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos and Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King will host the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the EU Internet Forum.

The EU Internet Forum will discuss the progress made in ensuring the removal of terrorist content online since its last meeting in December 2018 and look at the emerging challenges. Moreover, following discussions during the May meeting in Paris, organised in the aftermath of the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, and as part of the “Christchurch Call for Action”, the EU Internet Forum will seek commitment from industry and Member States on a common approach in addressing the online dimension of terrorist and violent extremist attacks as set out in the EU Crisis Protocol.

The background

The EU Internet Forum was launched in December 2015 by Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos to address the misuse of the internet by terrorist groups. It brings together Home Affairs Ministers, the internet industry, Europol and other stakeholders to work together in a voluntary partnership to address this complex issue and to protect EU citizens. Since its creation, the EU Internet Forum meets annually to take stock of the progress made in removing terrorist content online and discuss emerging challenges.

In 2015 an efficient referral mechanism through Europol has been established. In 2016, at the EU Internet Forum, the industry announced the creation of the “database of hashes” to make removals permanent and irreversible. In 2017, the European Council further called on the industry to develop new technology and tools to improve the automatic detection and removal of content that incites terrorist acts. In 2018, Commission proposed new rules to get terrorist content off the web within one hour across the EU.

In March 2019, in the aftermath of the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, President Juncker announced that the Commission has, together with Europol, initiated work on the development of an EU crisis protocol. Such voluntary Protocol would allow for a coordinated and rapid reaction to a cross-border online crisis - stemming from a terrorist or a violent extremist act. On 11 September, Europol, together with Member States and online service providers, carried out an exercise, taking a concrete step toward the development of a fully-fledged EU Crisis Protocol.

The event

The 5th Ministerial Meeting of the EU Internet Forum will take place on the 7October at 15:00 in the European Convention Centre Luxembourg (ECCL) in Luxembourg. The opening session of the meeting is public and will be streamed live on EbS.

AGENDA/19/5849

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