Regulation (EU) 2021/784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

1. This Regulation lays down uniform rules to address the misuse of hosting services for the dissemination to the public of terrorist content online, in particular on:

(a) reasonable and proportionate duties of care to be applied by hosting service providers in order to address the dissemination to the public of terrorist content through their services and ensure, where necessary, the expeditious removal of or disabling of access to such content;

(b) the measures to be put in place by Member States, in accordance with Union law and subject to suitable safeguards to protect fundamental rights, in particular the freedom of expression and information in an open and democratic society, in order to:

(i) identify and ensure the expeditious removal of terrorist content by hosting service providers; and

(ii) facilitate cooperation among the competent authorities of Member States, hosting service providers and, where appropriate, Europol.

2. This Regulation applies to hosting service providers offering services in the Union, irrespective of their place of main establishment, insofar as they disseminate information to the public.

3. Material disseminated to the public for educational, journalistic, artistic or research purposes or for the purposes of preventing or countering terrorism, including material which represents an expression of polemic or controversial views in the course of public debate, shall not be considered to be terrorist content. An assessment shall determine the true purpose of that dissemination and whether material is disseminated to the public for those purposes.

4. This Regulation shall not have the effect of modifying the obligation to respect the rights, freedoms and principles referred to in Article 6 TEU and shall apply without prejudice to fundamental principles relating to freedom of expression and information, including freedom and pluralism of the media.

5. This Regulation shall be without prejudice to Directives 2000/31/EC and 2010/13/EU. For audiovisual media services as defined in point (a) of Article 1(1) of Directive 2010/13/EU, Directive 2010/13/EU shall prevail.