Case C-18/18 | Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland Limited

Author (Corporate)
Series Details C-18/18
Publication Date 2018-2019
Content Type ,

Summary:

Judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the removal of comments by Facebook which are proven to be identical to defamatory comments found to be illegal.

Further information:

Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek sued Facebook in the Austrian courts. Ms Glawischnig-Piesczek sought an order that Facebook removed a comment published by a user on that social network harmful to her reputation, and allegations which were identical and/or of an equivalent content. Against this background, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) requested in March 2018 the CJEU to interpret Directive 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce.

The Opinion of the Advocate-General of the CJEU was published on 4 June 2019. The judgment of the Court on 3 October states that EU law does not preclude a host provider from being ordered to remove identical and, in certain circumstances, equivalent comments previously declared to be illegal. Morever, EU law does not preclude such an injunction from producing effects worldwide, within the framework of the relevant international law which it is for Member States to take into account.

Source Link Link to Main Source https://curia.europa.eu/juris/documents.jsf?num=C-18/18
Related Links
Official
EUR-Lex: Opinion of the Advocate General in Case C-18/18 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62018CC0018
CJEU: Press Release, 04/06/2019: Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-18/18 Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland Limited https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2019-06/cp190069en.pdf
CJEU: Press Release, 03/10/2019: Judgment in Case C-18/18 Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland Limited https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_2434826/en/

News
The Guardian, 03/10/2019: Facebook to be subject to tougher controls after EU court ruling https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/03/facebook-faces-tougher-controls-after-eu-ruling
BBC News, 03/10/2019: Facebook can be ordered to remove posts worldwide https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49919329
Deutsche Welle, 03/10/2019: Facebook must delete defamatory content worldwide if asked https://p.dw.com/p/3QgQA
Reuters, 03/10/2019: Facebook can be forced to remove content worldwide after landmark EU court ruling https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1WI0QL
Euronews, 03/10/2019: EU top court says that states can order Facebook to remove illegal comments online https://www.euronews.com/2019/10/03/eu-top-court-says-that-states-can-order-facebook-to-remove-illegal-comments-online
EurActiv, 03/10/2019: Facebook can be ordered to track down illegal content, ECJ rules https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/short_news/facebook-not-required-to-track-down-illegal-content-ecj-rules/
RTÉ News, 03/10/2019: Facebook can be forced to remove content worldwide after landmark EU court ruling https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2019/1003/1080941-facebook-can-be-forced-to-remove-content-worldwide/
Politico, 03/10/2019: Facebook can be forced to delete defamatory content worldwide, top EU court rules https://www.politico.eu/article/facebook-europe-court-justice-defamation-content-plaform-liability/

Commentary and Analysis
The IPKat, 05/06/2019: 'The internet’s not written in pencil, it’s written in ink' … yet content removal can be done on a worldwide basis, says AG Szpunar http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-internets-not-written-in-pencil-its.html
European Law Blog, 28/06/2019: AG Opinion on C-18/18: Towards private regulation of speech worldwide https://europeanlawblog.eu/2019/06/28/ag-opinion-on-c-18-18-towards-private-regulation-of-speech-worldwide/
SSRN: Grading AG Szpunar’s Opinion in Case C-18/18 – A Caution Against Worldwide Content Blocking As Default https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3404385
Euro|topics, October 2019: ECJ: hate speech must be searched for and deleted https://www.eurotopics.net/en/228033/

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