Welcome to our Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP) Spotlight page. To highlight one of our sections found within the KSP, this page sheds light on our KSP resources related to Online Regulation, which are based on our publicly available Online Regulation Series and Online Regulation Handbook. All of the content that is provided on this page can be found within our Online Regulation section of the KSP. If you are a registered KSP user, you can log in to view the section there.

 

Background to Online Regulation

This section collates all of Tech Against Terrorism’s research, analysis, and resources dedicated to Online Regulation. The aim of Tech Against Terrorism work on online regulation is to condense the complex and fragmented regulatory landscape to improve smaller tech company awareness of emerging global regulation and its potential impact on small platforms

  • The resources included are in part taken from or influenced by our first edition of our Online Regulation Series, which took place in October-November 2020. This contains analysis of 17 different jurisdictions, covering more than 60+ pieces of legislation, as well as three additional briefs examining tech sector initiatives and expert perspectives. The aim of this project was to provide a comprehensive and accessible resource for tech platforms to improve their understanding of legislative developments and key trends in online regulation and what this means for tech platforms.
  • This analysis was updated and incorporated into a Handbook which we published in July 2021. All country analyses have been updated to reflect recent regulatory changes. For each country, we provide a summary of the regulatory framework and the key takeaways for tech platforms, as well as Tech Against Terrorism’s commentary. The Handbook also includes Tech Against Terrorism’s key recommendations for governments and an analysis of International Human Rights Law as a possible framework for content regulation and governance.

Please keep an eye out for weekly updates to this page, where we will add our latest research and analysis from the Online Regulation Series 2.0, which began in November 2021. In this edition, we will look at an additional 11 jurisdictions and provide updates to certain jurisdictions covered last year. We are making deliberate efforts to include more jurisdictions in the Global South, as these jurisdictions risk being ignored in wider policy and legislative debate. These blog posts and the relative analysis and resources will be reflected in this section.

 

The resources on this page include all of Tech Against Terrorism’s analysis and research included in the various editions of the Online Regulation Series:

  • Online Regulation Series 1.0
    • All 20 Blog Posts Published from the 2020 Online Regulation Series including a Short Report collating all of the blog posts and analysis.
  • A Handbook on Online Regulation collating all of the regional, tech sector, and expert perspectives research conducted by Tech Against Terrorism accompanied by additional analysis such as global legislative trends.
  • An Online Regulation Legislation Table listing all relevant legislations covered in the Online Regulation Series and Handbook, organised by country and date.
  • An Online Regulation Map highlighting the legislative trends across the globe.
  • A Library of External Resources relevant to Online Regulation.
  • Online Regulation Series 2.0 including all our latest country analyses.

The Online Regulations Series Blog: 2020 & 2021

Country analyses, tech sector initiatives and expert perspectives.

2021

New: The Online Regulation Series 2.0

Please keep an eye out for weekly updates to this page, where we will add our latest research and analysis from the Online Regulation Series 2.0, which began in November 2021. In this edition, we will look at an additional 11 jurisdictions and provide updates to certain jurisdictions covered last year. We are making deliberate efforts to include more jurisdictions in the Global South, as these jurisdictions risk being ignored in wider policy and legislative debate. These blog posts and the relative analysis and resources will be reflected in this section.

November – December 2021

2020

The Online Regulations Series: First edition

Facing the fast-changing landscape of global online regulation, Tech Against Terrorism decided to provide smaller tech companies with a comprehensive overview of global online regulation. In doing so, we reviewed over 60 legislations, proposals, and guidelines that aim to regulate the online sphere, as well as over a 100 sources and civil society reports.

This effort culminated in the Online Regulation Series: For over a month, Tech Against Terrorism focused its outreach and knowledge sharing efforts on providing our stakeholders with an update on the state of global online regulation.

During the Online Regulation Series, we focused on three questions to improve our understanding of online regulation: What is the global state of play with regards to online regulation? What are some of the recent proposals that aims to regulate online content? What are the implications for tech platforms?

A regional focus, with 17 country-specific blog posts: Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as South America.

A tech sector and expert perspectives focus weekwith 3 blog posts to complement our regional focus.

The Online Regulation Series concluded with a webinar entitled The State of Global Online Regulation, welcoming tech policy and digital right experts to share insights on the key global regulations that is shaping online speech around the world.

Tech Against Terrorism’s produced an Online Regulation Series Short Report, which compiles all of the research and analysis conducted in the 2020 Online Regulation Series.

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THE ONLINE REGULATION SERIES | THE HANDBOOK

In July 2021, Tech Against Terrorism published the Online Regulation Series Handbook.

      • The Online Regulation Series Handbook provides an analysis of global online regulation, analysing over 60 legislations and regulatory proposals in 17 countries, and their implications for countering terrorist and violent extremist content.
      • The Handbook is based on analysis published throughout October and November 2020 for the first edition of our Online Regulation Series. All country analyses have been updated to reflect recent regulatory changes (as of June 2021). For each country, we provide a summary of the regulatory framework and the key takeaways for tech platforms, as well as Tech Against Terrorism’s commentary.
      • The Handbook also includes Tech Against Terrorism’s key recommendations for governments and an analysis of International Human Rights Law as a possible framework for content regulation and governance.

With this Handbook we aim to provide a comprehensive and accessible resource for tech platforms to improve their understanding of legislative developments and key trends in online regulation.

Online Regulation Series Handbook


ORS Handbook

Executive Summary


ORS Handbook

Background to the Online Regulation Series

The period after 2017 has seen a plethora of legislative initiatives aiming to regulate online speech. In the jurisdictions considered in the Online Regulations Series Handbook, over 20 regulations, legislative proposals and blueprint for updated regulatory frameworks have been discussed or passed. Many of these regulations used the countering of dissemination of terrorist content as a justification. Regulation of online speech is often complex, and the fact that many laws are pioneering in ambition and scope means that it can be difficult to comprehend for tech companies. 

In light of this fast-changing and complex regulatory landscape, Tech Against Terrorism decided to provide smaller tech companies with an overview of global online regulation. We reviewed over 60 pieces of legislation, proposals, and guidelines that aim to regulate the online sphere, and analysed over 100 data sources and civil society reports. 

This effort culminated in the Online Regulation Series, where over the course of six weeks, in October and November 2020, Tech Against Terrorism focused its outreach and knowledge-sharing efforts on providing our stakeholders with an update on the state of global online regulation. Now, we are pleased to launch the Online Regulation Series Handbook – a centralised resource collating this analysis and reflective of recent regulatory developments. 

We focus on three questions to improve our understanding of online regulation: 

      • What is the global state of play with regard to online regulation?  
      • What are the regulatory initiatives that aim to regulate online content? 
      • What are the implications for tech platforms? 

The Online Regulation Series concluded with a webinar entitled The State of Global Online Regulation, bringing together analysis from tech policy and digital rights experts on the key global regulations that are shaping online speech around the world. If you are interested in viewing a recording of this webinar, please see the Online Regulation Series (Blog) page.


Editorial note: The analysis included in this report is based on the blogposts we published on Tech Against Terrorism’s website in October – November 2020, and were updated to reflect changes in the online regulation landscape that took place between October 2020 and June 2021. As the state of global online regulation continues to change, Tech Against Terrorism will strive to provide regular updates on the implications for tech companies, and their efforts in countering terrorist use of the internet whilst respecting human rights. If you are aware of something that should be included or updated, please get in touch with us at [email protected]

Online Regulation Legislation Table

The below table lists all relevant legislations covered in the Online Regulation Series, organised by country and date.

Mapping Global Online Regulation

The below map highlights the legislative trends in online regulation across the globe. Please see below for further explanation.

This map demonstrates the legislations by country that Tech Against Terrorism covered in its research, as well as the legislative trends observed. Amongst the different trends Tech Against Terrorism has observed when conducting the Online Regulation Series, is the “rationale” behind the legislations passed or proposed:

Countering “harmful” content, including terrorist and violent extremist content online: In general, these regulations target terrorist use of the internet by compelling tech companies to rapidly remove terrorist and violent extremist content from their platforms, often including short removal deadlines (from 1 to 24 hours) and financial penalties for the companies that don’t comply. The German NetzDG, 2017, was the first of such regulations and was quickly followed by others in Europe, including at the EU level. Besides terrorist use of the internet, some of these legislations also target “harmful” online content more generally and may cover anything from illegal content and incitement to hatred to suicide-promoting content.

Read more on these regulations in our blog posts, published in October 2020, here:

Countering online misinformation: Countries that have recently seen a rise in influential online misinformation campaigns, such as Brazil and India, are introducing regulation aimed at targeting misinformation by imposing traceability requirements for messages shared online.

Read more on these regulations in our blog posts, published in October 2020, here:

Structural regulatory change: Legislation seeking to adapt the rulebook to the reality and risks of today’s digital world. The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) has been explicitly framed as a response to how digital changes “impact our lives.” The draft Digital Services Act (DSA), unveiled in December 2020, is an ambitious proposal aiming to reshape the digital space and introduce new obligations for online platforms operating in the EU. 

Read more on these regulations in our blog posts, published in October 2020, here:

References

The table below hosts a library of references relevant to online regulation, divided by country/regional focus and categorised by topic.

N.B. The analysis included in this section are as they were when published on Tech Against Terrorism’s website in October – November 2020. We are currently working on a new series of blog posts for the Online Regulation Series 2021, expanding the scope of jurisdictions for analysis. Please see our recently published Online Regulation Handbook, which covers legislation until July 2021.

Due to the fast-changing nature of the online regulatory landscape, some of the proposals covered have seen been passed, whilst new ones have been suggested. As the state of global online regulation continues to change, Tech Against Terrorism will strive to provide regular updates on the implications for tech companies, and their efforts in countering terrorist use of the internet whilst respecting human rights. If you are aware of something that should be included or updated, please get in touch with us at [email protected]