A Paris court ruled on Thursday that Twitter must reveal its measures to combat hate speech, in one of several cases discussing whether the French justice system has jurisdiction over the US social media giant.
Ireland-based Twitter International has appealed a July decision ordering it to share documents and details about its French moderation team and data about its anti-hate speech activities.
That case was brought up by several anti-discrimination groups over what they said was the company’s long-standing failure to properly moderate the posts.
The appeals court on Thursday upheld the first judgment and further ordered Twitter to pay €1,500 (approximately Rs. 1.2 lakh) to groups including SOS Racisme, SOS Homophobie and the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra ).
In another case from Paris, three victims of terrorist attacks who were harassed online are suing Twitter in France.
They argue that it was the company’s fault that its cases against its harassers failed, as it failed to provide identifying information that investigators requested.
In that case, Twitter’s France chief Damien Viel told a court last week that “I am responsible for Twitter’s business development and nothing else.”
The provision of data to the authorities was “in accordance with the goodwill of Twitter International, which is outside French jurisdiction and can decide whether or not to cooperate,” added his lawyer Karim Beylouni.
In another case in Versailles, outside Paris, Twitter France said it could not respond to a police request for information about people who sent insults and threats to a public official.
The local office says it does not store any information, with all data handled by the Irish-based group’s European mothership.
But prosecutors have asked for fines of up to 75,000 euros (approximately Rs. 63 lakh) against Twitter France and manager Viel personally.