Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly Calls for Protection of Freedom of Speech on Social Media

Adobe Stock

· The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a resolution calling on member states to strengthen the protection of freedom of speech on social media platforms.

· The resolution urges governments to adopt regulations requiring social media platforms to respect freedom of speech, introduce an obligation to justify decisions made by moderators, and create independent bodies to assess the moderation process.

· The Assembly also appealed directly to social media platforms, urging them to moderate content that does not violate the law with restraint, abandon so-called shadow-bans, and clearly explain the reasons behind their decisions to users.

· The Ordo Iuris Institute has long drawn attention to the problem of censorship and arbitrary decisions made by social media platforms in content moderation, often affecting individuals with right-wing or Christian views.

The recent resolution from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe highlights the significant power imbalance between global social media platforms and ordinary users, which should be addressed by public authorities’ intervention. PACE calls on the governments of member states, among other things, to compel social media platforms to respect users’ freedom of speech when moderating published content. The pan-European Assembly urges the introduction of a requirement for moderators to justify their decisions to remove posts, as well as the creation of independent non-judicial bodies to assess the moderation process and resolve disputes between social media platforms and their users.

The Parliamentary Assembly also appealed directly to the social media platforms, urging them to amend their terms of use to include guarantees for the protection of human rights, especially freedom of speech. PACE also expects careful moderation of content that is not clearly illegal, and a cessation of reducing the visibility of specific profiles (so-called "shadow-banning"). The Assembly also calls for informing users about any decisions that restrict the visibility of their posts and all moderation actions. The resolution also calls for thorough and accurate justification of all moderation decisions and ensuring human oversight of automated moderation carried out by artificial intelligence.

The Ordo Iuris Institute has repeatedly highlighted the issue of censorship on social media, where platforms arbitrarily decide on demonetization, reducing visibility, applying "shadow-bans," or removing posts, photos, or videos. Officially, these actions are taken to combat "disinformation" or "hate speech," but in practice, the reason often lies simply in promoting right-wing views or spreading Christian content. The moderation process has long raised concerns: decisions are often made in an automated procedure carried out by artificial intelligence, with no explanation of the specific reasons for removing certain content, and these decisions often cannot be appealed.

For example, in a 2021 report prepared by the Ordo Iuris Institute in collaboration with the Polish Journalists Association, it was pointed out: "Large media corporations continually attempt to restrict public debate by making it difficult or impossible for certain users to publish content that aligns with their opinions. The situation where communication platforms are placed above the law harms freedom of speech and brings to mind the worst forms of censorship found today in authoritarian and totalitarian countries — with the difference that the role of the state censorship machine is now taken over by media giants, which are beyond any real control of democratically elected authorities."

"Although this PACE resolution is not formally binding on member states, nor on social media platforms, it represents an important voice in the debate on modern forms of censorship. Social media today belong to the most important forums for public exchange of views, and sometimes they are even more influential than traditional media such as the press, radio, or television. Nevertheless, regulation of social media is minimal: the way content is moderated is in practice left to the discretion of anonymous moderators who answer only to the boards of the corporations that own these platforms. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is one of the first international bodies to not only draw attention to this problem but to directly call for legislative action that would formally obligate social media platforms to respect freedom of speech," emphasizes Patryk Ignaszczak from the Ordo Iuris Institute for International Law.

The Council of Europe is an international organization founded in 1949 to promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law across Europe. It currently consists of 46 member states and is distinct from the European Union. The Council of Europe is the overarching organization, established to promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe. Within it, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is a deliberative body composed of parliamentarians from the member states, playing a key role in shaping policies, making recommendations, and adopting resolutions on human rights and other issues. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a judicial institution that operates under the Council of Europe, with the mission of interpreting and ensuring compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.