Apology of terrorism - Provocation to terrorism

Verified 01 October 2020 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister), Ministry of Justice

Removal of terrorist content on the Internet

Published on 17 August 2022

The law no. 2022-1159 of 16 august 2022 includes an obligation for publishers and web hosts to remove terrorist content within one hour.

This page is being updated.

Advocacy of terrorism and direct incitement to terrorism are crimes. The defense of terrorism is to present or comment favorably on terrorist acts. Direct incitement to terrorism is incitement to commit terrorist acts. Anyone can report to the law enforcement authorities statements constituting one of these offenses made on the Internet. The police can order the blocking of access to websites where such comments are published.

Apology of terrorism

The defense of terrorism is to present or comment favorably either on terrorist acts in general or on specific terrorist acts already committed. For example, a person justifying or glorifying the commission of an attack.

The case-law considers that to glorify the author of the act is to glorify the act. For example, glorifying the perpetrator of a terrorist attack is considered glorifying the attack itself.

In order to be suppressed, the apology must have been made publicly. The public nature of the remarks shall be assessed in the same way as for insult or the defamation. Thus, comments made on a social network accessible to the public can be repressed.

Direct incitement to terrorism

Direct incitement to terrorism is the direct incitement to commit materially determined terrorist acts, which constitute a crime or a offense. For example, to target a particular place or personality by a particular means. Through the context, the will of the perpetrator and the language chosen, the comments are intended to convince others to commit such acts.

It is an incitement to commit acts in the future and not an endorsement of acts already committed.

It is not necessary that such statements have been made before a wide audience. Comments made by a few friends on a social network or made at a private meeting can be repressed.

If you wish to have content removed from the internet, you can make a request to the author of the content, then to the host of the site and finally to the court.

The procedure varies depending on whether it is a post or a comment on a post.

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For a publication

You must first contact the author of the content, who is the responsible of the website.

If the site manager refuses to remove the content, you must contact its host. The contact details of the host must be indicated on the website in question.

Many hosts, such as video sites, set their own terms for removing content, including because of copyright infringement or offensive images. For this purpose, they have specific signaling devices.

If the host does not remove the reported content according to its own procedure, you can make a report to it in a legal framework. This will allow you to go to court afterwards.

To report content to a host in a legal context, you must follow a very specific procedure.

Your application must include the following elements:

  • Your name, first name and e-mail address (this is not necessary if you are logged on to the site at the time of notification and your credentials are already registered)
  • Description of the disputed content, its precise location on the site and, if possible, the e-mail addresses that made it accessible
  • Legal grounds for removing the content (law apparently violated by the content)
  • Copy of 1era request for withdrawal addressed to the author or proof of impossibility to contact him (it is not necessary for infringements the most serious, such as terrorism, pedophilia and crimes against humanity)

You must make your request by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. You can ask a lawyer for help.

Who shall I contact

You can attach screenshots of the contents made by a commissioner of justice (former bailiff and judicial auctioneer).

If you report content knowingly knowing it is not illegal, you could face up to 1 year in prison and €15,000 of fine.

If you have used this procedure and the host does not promptly remove the content (by explicit refusal or by not responding to you), you can complain against him.

The complaint will be based on the fact that the offending content is contrary to the law (insults, racist, homophobic, sexist...).

FYI  

in cases of urgency and obvious harm, you can to request an application for interim measures to have content removed by the host. However, the latter will not be penalized.

For a comment

You must contact the person responsible for the website or social network on which the comment is located.

If the site or social network manager refuses to withdraw the comment, you must contact their host. The contact details of the host must be indicated on the website in question.

Many hosts, such as video sites, set their own terms for removing content, including because of copyright infringement or offensive images. For this purpose, they have specific signaling devices.

If the host does not withdraw the comment reported according to its procedure, you can make a report by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. You can ask a lawyer for help.

Who shall I contact

You can attach screenshots of the contents made by a commissioner of justice (former bailiff and judicial auctioneer).

Your request for withdrawal must be as precise as possible: offenses concerned, link to the comment in question, ...

If the site manager does not delete the comment quickly, you can complain against him for the offense in question.

FYI  

in cases of urgency and obvious harm, you can to request an application for interim measures to have a comment removed.

In most cases, the public prosecutor cause an inquiry to be held and may refer the matter to the court for trial.

The perpetrator may also be prosecuted by an association assisting victims of terrorism. The latter may be constituted civil party and request damages. The association may in this case bring the matter directly before the court with a direct quotation.

A private citizen not targeted by the remarks can always report the criminal acts to the public prosecutor. It is not possible to file a complaint as a private citizen.

Who shall I contact

If the acts were committed via the Internet, the prosecution could be directed against both the authors of the remarks and the designated editor.

The limitation period shall be 6 years from the day on which the offending remarks were made or from the date of their publication.

Those charged may be tried in immediate court.

The penalties are the same for apology and provocation.

The penalty shall be:

  • 5 years in prison,
  • and €75,000 fine

If the offense was committed via the Internet, the penalty is:

  • 7 years in prison,
  • and €100,000 of fine.

Sites that advocate or provoke terrorism are subject to a specific procedure.

Content reporting

Any Internet user can report such sites or content (a video...) to the police via a dedicated online service.

Report illegal internet content (internet-reporting: Pharos)

Internet service providers must also offer their own reporting mechanism for such content. These reports should be reported to the authorities.

Impediment with the intervention of a judge

If a website is dedicated to glorifying or provoking terrorism, the judiciary can order:

  • closing the site. The closure is implemented by the site host,
  • or the blocking of visits from France. This blocking is put in place by internet service providers.

This is called blockage or judicial closure.

Blocking without the intervention of a judge

L'Office central de lutte contre la criminalité liée aux technologies de l'information et de la communication: titleContent, a police service may order without a judge:

  • removal of content (such as a video) or closure of an entire site that advocates or provokes terrorism. This request is addressed to the author of the content or its host,
  • blocking access to such a site for French Internet users. Such blocking is requested if a site remains accessible 24 hours after the first request for closure or if the police have not been able to identify the author of the site or contact his host. This request is addressed to the access providers. In this case, French Internet users attempting to visit this site will be automatically redirected to a page of the Ministry of the Interior indicating the reasons for the block and the means of appeal.
  • the removal of a site or content thus blocked from the results of the search engines for French Internet users.

This is called blockage or administrative closure.