Negotiating Fundamental Rights: Civil Society and the EU Regulation on Addressing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online

Abstract

During the negotiations of the EU Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online, digital and human rights activists raised concerns regarding the safeguarding of fundamental rights. These actors were partially successful in influencing aspects of the final text of the Regulation, thus, raising the question of how such groups have managed to influence traditionally “securitized” counterterrorism policy. This study compares the discourses employed by the different EU institutions and digital and human rights advocates during the negotiation period. Approaching this through the lens of politicization, this study demonstrates that whilst securitizing discourses persist to a certain extent, some aspects of EU counterterrorism law are open to contestation.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the editors of this Special Issue, Prof. Maura Conway and Prof. Stuart Macdonald, my PhD supervisors, Prof. Dr. Hans-Heinrich Trute and PD Dr. Martin Kahl, my colleagues at the IFSH and the University of Hamburg, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions and advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Such efforts include Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act), which is not the focus of the present study.

2 See for example, Valsamis Mitsilegas. “The Preventive Turn in European Security Policy: Towards a Rule of Law Crisis?,” in EU Law in Populist Times: Crises and Prospects, ed. Francesca Bignami, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 301-18.

3 Didier Bigo, “Security and Immigration: Toward a Critique of the Governmentality of Unease,” Alternatives 27, no. 1 (2002): 63-92.

4 See for example, Jonas Hagmann, Hendrik Hegemann, and Andrew Neal, “The Politicisation of Security: Controversy, Mobilisation, Arena Shifting,” European Review of International Studies 5, no. 3 (2018): 3-29; Hendrik Hegemann and Ulrich Schneckener, “Politicising European Security: From Technocratic to Contentious Politics?,” European Security 28, no. 2 (2019): 133-52; Michael Lister, “Explaining Counter Terrorism in the UK: Normal Politics, Securitised Politics or Performativity of the Neo-Liberal State?,” Critical Studies on Terrorism 12, no. 3 (2019): 416-39.

5 Myriam Dunn Cavelty and Matthias Leese, “Politicising Security at the Boundaries: Privacy in Surveillance and Cybersecurity,” European Review of International Studies 5, no. 3 (2018): 49-69; Lina Liedlbauer, “Politicising European Counter-Terrorism: The Role of NGOs,” European Security 30, no. 3 (2021): 485-503.

6 Danielle Keats Citron, “Extremist speech, compelled conformity, and censorship creep,” Notre Dame L. Rev. 93, no. 3 (2018): 1035-1072.

7 Krisztina Huszti-Orban, “Internet Intermediaries and Counter-Terrorism: Between Self-Regulation and Outsourcing Law Enforcement,” 2018 10th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) (2018): 227-44.

8 Aleksandra Kuczerawy, “The Proposed Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online: Safeguards and Risks for Freedom of Expression,” Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP), KU Leuven, December 5, (2018), https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Regulation-on-preventing-the-dissemination-of-terrorist-content-online-v3.pdf.

9 Robert Gorwa, Reuben Binns, and Christian Katzenbach, “Algorithmic Content Moderation: Technical and Political Challenges in the Automation of Platform Governance,” Big Data & Society 7, no. 1 (2020): 1-15; Stuart Macdonald, Sara Giro Correia, and Amy-Louise Watkin, “Regulating Terrorist Content on Social Media: Automation and the Rule of Law,” International Journal of Law in Context 15, no. 2 (2019): 183-97.

10 Robert Gorwa, “Elections, Institutions, and the Regulatory Politics of Platform Governance: The Case of the German NetzDG,” Telecommunications Policy 45, no. 6 (2021): 4.

11 Rocco Bellanova and Marieke de Goede, “Co-Producing Security: Platform Content Moderation and European Security Integration,” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 60, no. 5 (2022): 1319.

12 Ibid.

13 See for example, Rita Abrahamsen and Michael C. Williams, “Security Beyond the State: Global Security Assemblages in International Politics,” International Political Sociology 3, no. 1 (2009): 1-17.

14 Cf., Félix Tréguer. “Seeing Like Big Tech: Security Assemblages, Technology, and the Future of State Bureaucracy,” in Data Politics: Worlds, Subjects, Rights, ed. Didier Bigo, Engin Isin, and Evelyn Ruppert, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2019), 145-64.

15 Marguerite Borelli, “Social Media Corporations as Actors of Counter-Terrorism,” New Media & Society (advance online publication), (2021).

16 For example, Christopher Baker-Beall, “The Evolution of the European Union’s ‘Fight against Terrorism’ Discourse: Constructing the Terrorist ‘Other’,” Cooperation and Conflict 49, no. 2 (2014): 212-38; Christopher Baker-Beall and Gareth Mott, “The New EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda: Preemptive Security through the Anticipation of Terrorist Events,” Global Affairs 7, no. 5 (2021): 711-32; Dennis Broeders, Fabio Cristiano, and Daan Weggemans, “Too Close for Comfort: Cyber Terrorism and Information Security across National Policies and International Diplomacy,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (2021): 1-28; Daniela Pisoiu, “Pragmatic Persuasion in Counterterrorism,” Critical Studies on Terrorism 5, no. 3 (2012): 297-317.

17 Bridget Barrett, Katharine Dommett, and Daniel Kreiss, “The Capricious Relationship between Technology and Democracy: Analyzing Public Policy Discussions in the UK and US,” Policy & Internet 13, no. 4 (2021): 522-43; Gorwa, “Elections, Institutions, and the Regulatory Politics of Platform Governance”, 1-26.

18 European Commission, “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Tackling Illegal Content Online: Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms,” COM(2017) 555, September 28, (2017).

19 EDRi, “Re: A coherent and rights-based approach to dealing with illegal content,” October 20, (2017), https://edri.org/files/letter_coherent_rightsbasedapproach_illegalcontent_20171020.pdf.

20 Lenard Koschwitz et al., “Open Letter to President Juncker, Vice President Ansip, Commissioner Gabriel, Commissioner Bieńkowska, Commissioner Jourová, Commissioner King, Commissioner Avramopoulos,” February 13, (2018), https://ecommerce-europe.eu/publication/ecommerce-europe-co-signs-joint-statement-tech-rights-groups-urging-european-commission-consult-stakeholders-illegal-content/.

21 European Commission, “Commission Recommendation (EU) 2018/334 of 1 March 2018 on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online,” Official Journal of the European Union, L63/50, March 6, (2018).

22 European Commission, “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online. A contribution from the European Commission to the Leaders’ meeting in Salzburg on 19-20 September 2018,” COM/2018/640 final, September 12, (2018).

23 European Commission, “Impact Assessment, Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online,” SWD(2018) 408 final, September 12, (2018).

24 European Commission, “Proposal for a Regulation”.

25 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to EU Ministers,” December 4, (2018), https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/FINAL-joint-letter-on-Terrorist-Content-Regulation.pdf.

26 Ibid.

27 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Proposal for a Regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online and its fundamental rights implications: Opinion of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019); David Kaye, Joseph Cannataci, and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, “Mandates of the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the special rapporteur on the right to privacy and the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism,” OL OTH 71/2018, December 7, (2018).

28 European Commission, “A Europe that Protects: Commission calls for decisive action on security priorities,” October 10, (2018), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_18_6064.

29 Council of the European Union, “Subject: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online – general approach,” 15336/18, December 7, (2018).

30 European Parliament, “European Parliament legislative resolution of 17 April 2019 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online (COM(2018)0640 – C8-0405/2018 – 2018/0331(COD)),” P8_TA(2019)0421, April 17, (2019).

31 European Parliament, “22. Fighting terrorism and the right to freedom of expression and education (debate),” November 11, (2020), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-9-2020-11-11-ITM-022_EN.html.

32 Council of the European Union, “Terrorist content online: Council presidency and European Parliament reach provisional agreement,” December 10, (2020), https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/12/10/terrorist-content-online-council-presidency-and-european-parliament-reach-provisional-agreement/.

33 European Parliament and Council of the European Union, “Regulation 2021/784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online,” Official Journal of the European Union, L172/79, May 17, (2021), Article 18(e).

34 Barry Buzan, Jaap de Wilde, and Ole Wæver, Security: A New Framework for Analysis, (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998), 23-24.

35 Ibid., 25

36 Ibid., 24

37 See for example, Lars Berger, “Securitization across Borders – Commonalities and Contradictions in European and Arab Counterterrorism Discourses,” Global Affairs 7, no. 5 (2021): 813-30; Christian Kaunert and Sarah Léonard, “Collective Securitization and Crisification of EU Policy Change: Two Decades of EU Counterterrorism Policy,” Global Affairs 7, no. 5 (2021): 687-93.

38 Bigo, “Security and Immigration,” 63-92; Jef Huysmans, The Politics of Insecurity: Fear, Migration and Asylum in the EU, (London: Routledge, 2006).

39 Buzan et al. define a “securitizing move” as a “discourse that takes the form of presenting something as an existential threat”, Buzan, de Wilde, Wæver, Security, 25.

40 Bigo, “Security and Immigration,” 63-92.

41 Ibid., 73-74.

42 Ibid., 65.

43 On the “anticipatory turn” in counterterrorism, see for example, Marieke de Goede and Beatrice de Graaf, “Sentencing Risk: Temporality and Precaution in Terrorism Trials,” International Political Sociology 7, no. 3 (2013): 313-31.

44 See for example, Claudia Aradau and Rens van Munster, “Governing Terrorism through Risk: Taking Precautions, (Un)Knowing the Future,” European Journal of International Relations 13, no. 1 (2007): 89-115.

45 Bigo, “Security and Immigration,” 76.

46 For a more in-depth discussion on securitization and “normal” politics, see for example, Hagmann, Hegemann, and Neal, “The Politicisation of Security,” 3-29; Hegemann and Schneckener, “Politicising European Security,” 133-52; Michael Lister, “Explaining Counter Terrorism in the UK,” 416-39.

47 Dunn Cavelty and Leese, “Politicising Security at the Boundaries,” 49-69; Hagmann, Hegemann, and Neal, “The Politicisation of Security,” 3-29; Hegemann and Schneckener, “Politicising European Security,” 133-52; Michael Lister, “Explaining Counter Terrorism in the UK,” 416-39.

48 Hagmann, Hegemann, and Neal, “The Politicisation of Security,” 10.

49 Ibid.

50 Ibid.

51 Dunn Cavelty and Leese, “Politicising Security at the Boundaries,” 53.

52 Ibid.

53 See for example, Pieter de Wilde and Michael Zürn, “Can the Politicization of European Integration Be Reversed?,” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 50, no. 1 (2012): 137-53; Pieter de Wilde, “No Polity for Old Politics? A Framework for Analyzing the Politicization of European Integration,” Journal of European Integration 33, no. 5 (2011): 559-75.

54 Pieter de Wilde, Anna Leupold, and Henning Schmidtke, “Introduction: The Differentiated Politicisation of European Governance,” West European Politics 39, no. 1 (2016): 4 (emphasis in original).

55 Ibid., 6.

56 Hagmann, Hegemann, and Neal, “The Politicisation of Security,” 13.

57 Liedlbauer, “Politicising European Counter-Terrorism,” 485-503.

58 Ibid., 495.

59 Franz Eder, Chiara Libiseller, and Bernhard Schneider, “Contesting Counter-Terrorism: Discourse Networks and the Politicisation of Counter-Terrorism in Austria,” Journal of International Relations and Development 24, no. 1 (2021): 171-95.

60 See for example, Andrew W. Neal, “Parliamentary Security Politics as Politicisation by Volume,” European Review of International Studies 5, no. 3 (2018): 70-93; Andrew W. Neal, “The Parliamentarisation of Security in the UK and Australia,” Parliamentary Affairs 74, no. 2 (2021): 464-82; Hendrik Hegemann, “Toward ‘Normal’ Politics? Security, Parliaments and the Politicisation of Intelligence Oversight in the German Bundestag,” The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 20, no. 1 (2018): 175-90.

61 On politicization and the Edward Snowden revelations, see for example, Hendrik Hegemann and Martin Kahl, “(Re)Politicizing Security? The Legitimation and Contestation of Mass Surveillance after Snowden,” World Political Science 13, no. 1 (2017): 21-56; Hagmann, Hegemann, and Neal, “The Politicisation of Security,” 16-18.

62 Liedlbauer, “Politicising European Counter-Terrorism,” 485-503; Vera Strobel, “Strategic Litigation and International Internet Law,” in Digital Transformations in Public International Law, ed. Angelo Jr. Golia, Matthias C. Kettemann, and Raffaela Kunz, (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2022), 261-84.

63 For more on minority and suspect communities, see Imran Awan, ““I Am a Muslim Not an Extremist”: How the Prevent Strategy Has Constructed a “Suspect” Community,” Politics & Policy 40, no. 6 (2012): 1158-85; Arun Kundnani, “Radicalisation: The Journey of a Concept,” Race and Class 54, no. 2 (2012): 3-25.

64 Liedlbauer, “Politicising European Counter-Terrorism,” 496.

65 Fiona de Londras, “Politicisation, Law and Rights in the Transnational Counter-Terrorism Space: Indications from the Regulation of Foreign Terrorist Fighters,” European Review of International Studies 5, no. 3 (2018): 117.

66 European Parliament and Council of the European Union, “Directive (EU) 2017/541 of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA,” Official Journal of the European Union, L 88/6, March 31, (2017).

67 de Londras, “Politicisation, Law and Rights,” 122.

68 See also Tarik Gherbaoui and Martin Scheinin, “Time to Rewrite the EU Directive on Combating Terrorism,” Verfassungsblog, January 25, (2022), https://verfassungsblog.de/time-to-rewrite-the-eu-directive-on-combating-terrorism/, who argue that the Directive was rushed in the aftermath of the attacks in Paris in 2015 and the political pressure to deal with foreign fighters.

69 de Londras, “Politicisation, Law and Rights”, 115-38.

70 Justin Greenwood and Christilla Roederer-Rynning, “In the Shadow of Public Opinion: The European Parliament, Civil Society Organizations, and the Politicization of Trilogues,” Politics and Governance 7, no. 3 (2019): 322.

71 See, European Commission, “Better Regulation: Why and How.” https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making-process/planning-and-proposing-law/better-regulation-why-and-how_en.

72 See for example, Hans-Heinrich Trute, “Democratizing Science: Expertise and Participation in Administrative Decision-Making,” in The Public Nature of Science under Assault: Politics, Markets, Science and the Law, ed. Helga Nowotny, Dominique Pestre, Eberhard Schmidt-Aßmann, Helmuth Schulze-Fielitz, and Hans-Heinrich Trute (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2005), 87-108.

73 The concept of a “boundary object” was first developed by Susan Leigh Star and James Griesemer in 1989. A boundary object is an object that belongs to different fields, each field interprets and adapts the meaning of that object in various ways. Thus, boundary objects are contested, but can also foster communication amongst different actors, Susan Leigh Star and James R. Griesemer, “Institutional Ecology, ‘Translations’ and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39,” Social Studies of Science 19, no. 3 (1989): 387-420.

74 Dunn Cavelty and Leese, “Politicising Security at the Boundaries,” 63.

75 European Digital Rights (EDRi), “Our Network,” https://edri.org/about-us/our-network/.

76 Global Network Initative (GNI), “About,” https://globalnetworkinitiative.org/about-gni/.

77 Strobel, “Strategic Litigation,” 272.

78 Ibid., 264.

79 See for example, Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014).

80 Katharina Luckner, “#Whoselawisitanyway. How the Internet Augments Civil Society Participation in International Law Making,” in Digital Transformations in Public International Law, ed. Angelo Jr. Golia, Matthias C. Kettemann, and Raffaela Kunz, (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2022), 248.

81 For more on this see, Ian Manners, “Normative Power Europe Reconsidered: Beyond the Crossroads,” Journal of European Public Policy 13, no. 2 (2006): 182-99; Marieke de Goede, “The Swift Affair and the Global Politics of European Security,” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 50, no. 2 (2012): 214-30; Bellanova and de Goede, “Co-Producing Security”, 1318-9.

82 Christian Rauh and Michael Zürn, “Authority, Politicization, and Alternative Justifications: Endogenous Legitimation Dynamics in Global Economic Governance,” Review of International Political Economy 27, no. 3 (2020): 588.

83 Ibid., 589.

84 For more on this see, Jessie Blackbourn, Fiona de Londras, and Lydia Morgan, Accountability and Review in the Counter-Terrorist State (Bristol: Policy Press, 2019); Fiona de Londras and Fergal F. Davis, “Controlling the Executive in Times of Terrorism: Competing Perspectives on Effective Oversight Mechanisms,” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 30, no. 1 (2010): 19-47; Fergal F. Davis and Fiona de Londras, Critical Debates on Counter-Terrorism Judicial Review (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014); Federico Fabbrini, “The Role of the Judiciary in Times of Emergency: Judicial Review of Counter-Terrorism Measures in the United States Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice,” Yearbook of European Law 28, no. 1 (2009): 664-97.

85 Liedlbauer, “Politicising European Counter-Terrorism”, 485-503; Strobel, “Strategic Litigation”, 261-84.

86 Christian Kaunert, Sarah Léonard, and Alex MacKenzie, “The European Parliament in the External Dimension of EU Counter-Terrorism: More Actorness, Accountability and Oversight 10 Years On?,” Intelligence and National Security 30, no. 2-3 (2015): 357-76.

87 Greenwood and Roederer-Rynning, “In the Shadow of Public Opinion,” 320-21.

88 Liedlbauer, “Politicising European Counter-Terrorism,” 490-4.

89 In the context of the TCO, former MEP Felix Reda and current MEP Patrick Breyer are some examples.

90 Following Gorwa, “Elections, Institutions, and the Regulatory Politics of Platform Governance”, 1-26.

91 Baker-Beall “The Evolution of the European Union’s ‘Fight against Terrorism’ Discourse,” 212-238; Baker-Beall and Mott, “The New EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda,” 711-32; Silvia D’Amato and Andrea Terlizzi, “Strategic European Counterterrorism? An Empirical Analysis,” European Security 31, no. 4 (2022): 540-57; Richard Jackson, “An Analysis of EU Counterterrorism Discourse Post-September 11,” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 20, no. 2 (2007): 233-47.

92 Barrett, Dommett, and Kreiss. “The Capricious Relationship between Technology and Democracy,” 522-43; Niels ten Oever, “Productive Contestation, Civil Society, and Global Governance: Human Rights as a Boundary Object in ICANN,” Policy & Internet 11, no. 1 (2019): 37-60; Kilian Vieth, “Policing ‘Online Radicalization’: The Framing of Europol’s Internet Referral Unit,” in Research Handbook on Human Rights and Digital Technology, ed. Ben Wagner, Matthias C. Kettemann, and Kilian Vieth (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019), 319-344.

93 Eder, Libiseller, and Schneider, “Contesting Counter-Terrorism,” 117.

94 Cf. work on argumentation patterns by Regina Heller, Martin Kahl, and Daniela Pisoiu, “The ‘Dark’ Side of Normative Argumentation – the Case of Counterterrorism Policy,” Global Constitutionalism 1, no. 2 (2012): 278-312.

95 Cf. Liedlbauer, “Politicising European Counter-Terrorism,” 485-503.

96 See for example, Jake Goldenfein and Monique Mann, “Tech Money in Civil Society: Whose Interests Do Digital Rights Organisations Represent?,” Cultural Studies 37, no. 1 (2023): 88-122.

97 See for example, European Commission, “State of the Union 2018: Commission takes action to get terrorist content off the web - Questions and Answers,” September 12, (2018), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/MEMO_18_5711.

98 European Parliament and Council of the European Union, “Regulation 2021/784,” Article 3(3).

99 European Commission, “Impact Assessment,” 8.

100 European Commission, “Fighting terrorism online: Remarks by Commissioners Avramopoulos and King at the Internet Forum,” December 6, (2017), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_17_5151.

101 See for example, European Commission, “Impact Assessment,” 8; European Parliament, “European Parliament resolution of 12 December 2018 on findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on Terrorism (2018/2044(INI)),” Official Journal of the European Union, C 388/42, November 13, (2020), 8-9.

102 See for example, Vicki Coppock and Mark McGovern, ““Dangerous Minds”? Deconstructing Counter-Terrorism Discourse, Radicalisation and the “Psychological Vulnerability” of Muslim Children and Young People in Britain,” Children & Society 28, no. 3 (2014): 242-56; Marieke de Goede and Stephanie Simon, “Governing Future Radicals in Europe,” Antipode 45, no. 2 (2013): 315-35; Jonathan Githens-Mazer, “The Rhetoric and Reality: Radicalization and Political Discourse,” International Political Science Review 33, no. 5 (2012): 556-67; Charlotte Heath-Kelly, “Counter-Terrorism and the Counterfactual: Producing the “Radicalisation” Discourse and the UK Prevent Strategy,” British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15, no. 3 (2013): 394-415.

103 European Commission, “A Europe that Protects.”

104 European Parliament, “19. Preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online (debate),” April 28, (2021), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-9-2021-04-28-ITM-019_EN.html.

105 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to EU Ministers.”

106 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to Members of the European Parliament,” April 12, (2019), https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-04-15-Joint-Letter-TerReg-plenary-17-4.pdf.

107 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to EU Ministers.”

108 Ibid.

109 Mitsilegas, “The Preventive Turn in European Security Policy,” 301.

110 Andrew W. Neal, Exceptionalism and the Politics of Counter-Terrorism: Liberty, Security and the War on Terror (London: Routledge, 2010), 2.

111 European Parliament, “22. Fighting terrorism and the right to freedom of expression and education (debate).”

112 European Commission, “Impact Assessment,” 102.

113 Ibid.

114 European Commission, “Proposal for a Regulation,” Article 2(4)(5).

115 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to EU Ministers,”; David Kaye, Joseph Cannataci, and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, “Mandates.”

116 Council of the European Union, “Subject: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online – general approach,” Article 2(4).

117 European Parliament, “European Parliament legislative resolution of 17 April 2019,” Article 2(5).

118 WITNESS et al., “Joint email to Members of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs,” January 28, (2019), https://blog.witness.org/2019/01/witness-brings-together-voices-push-back-dangerous-dissemination-terrorist-content-proposal-civil-society-letter/.

119 European Parliament and Council of the European Union, “Regulation 2021/784,” Article 2(7).

120 ARTICLE 19, “Comments on leaked draft Terrorist Content Regulation,” April 7, (2020), https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Terrorism-Regulation-legal-briefing-020420-FINAL-1.pdf; Global Network Initiative, “GNI Statement on Europe’s Proposed Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online,” November 12, (2020), https://globalnetworkinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GNI-Statement-Proposed-EU-Regulation-on-Terrorist-Content.pdf, 3.

121 European Commission, “Proposal for a Regulation,” Article 6.

122 Cf. Strobel, “Strategic Litigation,” 264.

123 European Commission, “Impact Assessment,” 48.

124 Global Network Initiative, “GNI Statement on Europe’s Proposed Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online,” 6.

125 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to EU Ministers.”

126 European Commission, “Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms,” 20.

127 Global Network Initiative, “GNI Statement on Europe’s Proposed Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online,” 6.

128 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to Members of the European Parliament,” March 25, (2021), https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/MEP_TERREG_Letter_EN_78.pdf.

129 European Parliament, “19. Preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online (debate),”; European Parliament, “22. Fighting terrorism and the right to freedom of expression and education (debate).”

130 Cf. Kaunert, Léonard, and MacKenzie, “The European Parliament in the External Dimension of EU Counter-Terrorism,” 357-376; Greenwood and Roederer-Rynning, “In the Shadow of Public Opinion,” 316-326.

131 Cf., Liz Campbell, Andrew Ashworth, and Mike Redmayne, The Criminal Process (Glasgow: Oxford University Press, 2019), 42.

132 See fn. 81.

133 Cf., Barrett, Dommett, and Kreiss, “The Capricious Relationship between Technology and Democracy,” 534.

134 Kuczerawy, “The Proposed Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online,” 3.

135 See, Europol, “EU Internet Referral Unit – EU IRU,” February 23, (2022), https://www.europol.europa.eu/about-europol/european-counter-terrorism-centre-ectc/eu-internet-referal-unit-eu-iru.

136 See, European Commission, “EU Internet Forum: Bringing together governments, Europol and technology companies to counter terrorist content and hate speech online,” December 3, (2015), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_15_6243.

137 European Commission, “Fighting Terrorism Online: Public-private sector cooperation as important as ever at the fourth EU Internet Forum,” December 5, (2018), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_18_6681.

138 European Commission, “State of the Union 2018.”

139 European Commission, “Fighting terrorism online.”

140 European Commission, “Impact Assessment,” 23.

141 European Commission, “Proposal for a Regulation,” Article 5.

142 Ibid., Article 4(3b).

143 Ibid., Article 5(4).

144 Ibid., Article 5(5)(6).

145 Kaye, Cannataci, and Ní Aoláin, “Mandates,” 7.

146 EDRi, “Recommendations for the European Parliament’s Draft Report on the Regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online,” December 11, (2018), https://edri.org/files/counterterrorism/CounterTerror_LIBEDraftReport_EDRi_position.pdf, 6-7.

147 Global Network Initiative, “GNI Statement on Europe’s Proposed Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online.”

148 Council of the European Union [leaked by Statewatch], “Summary of the overall compromise proposal,” November 26, (2020), https://www.statewatch.org/media/1585/eu-terrorist-content-online-compromise-text-summary-26-11-20.pdf.

149 European Parliament and Council of the European Union, “Regulation 2021/784,” Recital 40.

150 European Commission, “Fighting terrorism online.”

151 European Commission, “Proposal for a Regulation,” Article 6.

152 European Commission, “Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms,” 2.

153 European Commission, “Impact Assessment,” 142-5.

154 Access Now et al., “Joint letter to Members of the European Parliament [2019].”

155 Global Network Initiative, “GNI Statement on Europe’s Proposed Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online,” 7.

156 Ibid.

157 European Parliament, “European Parliament legislative resolution of 17 April 2019,” Article 6.

158 European Parliament and Council of the European Union, “Regulation 2021/784,” Article 5.

159 Council of the European Union, “Joint statement by the EU home affairs ministers on the recent terrorist attacks in Europe,” November 13, (2020), https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/11/13/joint-statement-by-the-eu-home-affairs-ministers-on-the-recent-terrorist-attacks-in-europe/.

160 Bellanova and de Goede, “Co-Producing Security,” 1330.

161 de Wilde, Leupold, and Schmidtke, “The Differentiated Politicisation of European Governance,” 4.

162 Dunn Cavelty and Leese, “Politicising Security at the Boundaries,” 53.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a PhD scholarship awarded by the Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Graduate School of Law at the University of Hamburg. The article was finalized whilst working as a researcher on a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF – KURI project, Grant# 01UG2040A). I am also grateful for receiving financial support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to attend the International Studies Association 2022 Annual Convention in Nashville, where I was able to present an earlier version of this article.