Hate speech: Twitch joins the EU Code of Conduct against illegal hate speech online

Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, said: “What is illegal offline, must be illegal online. It is good news that Twitch joins our common fight to make online space free of illegal hate speech. Younger people are particularly vulnerable to hate and abuse and we owe it to them to make the Internet a safer space for them.” Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice, said: “Twitch joining the Code, as a platform which speaks to the younger generations, is a step in the right direction, as we continue our work to build a safer digital space. I therefore welcome this commitment and look forward to extending the Code of Conduct to other companies. Online hate speech can be found anywhere online. The more we are to commit to this objective, the greater the impact.” The Code of Conduct continues to attract new companies. Shortly after announcing the participation of Rakuten Viber to the Code, Twitch became the twelfth partner, joining Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Dailymotion, Jeuxvideo.com, TikTok, and LinkedIn. As underlined by the results of its sixth evaluation, the Code of Conduct has already achieved positive results. On average, IT companies reviewed 81% of the notifications within 24 hours and removed 62.5% of flagged content. Twitch also recently joined the 2022 Code of Practice on disinformation. The Code of Conduct complements other EU initiatives, such as the Digital Services Act, contributing to create a more robust EU-wide response against hate speech online.