Much like Germany and other European nations, Sweden too, is now tightening its leash around “abusive” content in social media.
The government is now looking to pass legislation that will hold social media companies partly responsible for the content published across their platforms.
Digitization Minister Anders Ygeman is one of the driving forces behind the legislation.
He explained that he does understand the fact that ultimately, users are to be held responsible for the content they post; however, he still wants social media companies to take a fair share of responsibility, as it will compel them to take down illegal content without fail.
He also stated that such legislation is better suited for the European level, as they concern international companies.
But then, he is also open to applying Swedish legislation if things don’t work out at the EU level.
The UK government too, has recently proposed new legislation that mandates Ofcom’s regulatory body to keep an eye on the stakeholders to make sure that any harmful and illegal content is promptly removed from the social media platforms.
Ygeman also addressed the free speech concerns around the legislation that is to be proposed, stating that regulating such social media platforms will somehow in no way restrict users’ freedom of expression.
Lotta Finstorp, the spokesperson of Moderate, a Swedish liberal-conservative political party said that she couldn’t comment on the legislation without going through the bill.
She did, however, say that such an issue might be better dealt with at EU level, and not regionally. “I am hesitant to be able to regulate it at the national level, given that the internet has no boundaries,” said Finstorp.
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