This morning (Wednesday) the Minister of Communications, Yoaz Hendel, adopted the recommendations of the Committee for Examining the Online Social Platforms legislation. The Committee was established in October 2021 by the Minister in order to recommend the regulation of the activities of online social media platforms. The Committee is chaired by Liran Avisar Ben-Hurin, the Director General of the Ministry of Communications, and its members are Dr. Micha Goodman, Mr. Uri Herman, Prof. Karin Nahon, Adv. Revital Sweid, Prof. Shizaf Rafali, and Miriam Sela, the Coordinator of the Committee.
The Committee’s recommendations, upon which the Minister of Communications relied, dealt with contending with offensive content, regulating the relationship between the platform and the users, the obligation of transparency before the regulator and the public, managing risks on behalf of the platform, regulating the relationship between the platform and the State of Israel and appointing a regulator to oversee the implementation of the regulation. The recommendations were inspired by the international legislation in this field while adapting it to the Israeli arena.
The main points of the Committee’s recommendations received by the Minister of Communications:
- Applying regulation to platforms with over 500,000 active users in Israel (5% of Israel’s population).
- Determining the legal responsibility of the platform operators in relation to clearly offensive illegal content published on the platforms. From the moment of awareness of these contents, they will be obliged to act quickly and reasonably to remove them or reduce access to them or exposure to them.
- Obligating the platforms to operate an online hotline for reporting illegal and offensive content and to handle these reports.
- Certification of “reliable reporters” who will help deal with illegal and offensive content.
- Authorizing courts to issue orders to remove illegal and offensive content.
- Obligating the platforms to inform and justify for users about the restrictions they have imposed on their accounts or the content they upload.
- Obligating the platforms to act in conjunction with the users in an objective, reasonable, proportionate, and fair manner.
- Obligating the platforms to establish a two-stage appeal mechanism for users due to a decision limiting the content they uploaded or restricting their accounts.
- Imposing transparency obligations and providing reports on the activity of the platforms in Israel.
- Establishing a representative office in Israel for each platform.
- Certification of a regulator to oversee the regulation recommended by the Commission with overseeing authority and the authority to demand information.
The Minister of Communications, Yoaz Hendel, stated: “The information revolution has brought humanity to new heights, but also to the formation of new dilemmas that many governments have to deal with. About a year ago, we decided to face the challenge and I appointed a committee consisting of the leading experts in their field to examine the legislation of social media operating in Israel. For the first time, the State of Israel is dealing with ethical and regulatory questions regarding social media.
This is an unregulated online space, and negative and harmful social phenomena have grown in it. Legal responsibility should be applied to digital platforms in relation to the distribution of illegal sexual content, incitement to violence and terrorism, etc. The right of citizens to a protected online environment, the right of states to protect themselves and prevent incitement to terrorism, calls to violence, and certainly the right of an individual to obtain reprieve against the giant corporations that operate the digital platforms. I want to thank the members of the committee for their professional and comprehensive work and for their commitment to the goal. The step we are taking today brings us closer to a more protected and safe online space while maximally preserving freedom of expression.”
The Chairman of the Committee, the Director General of the Ministry of Communications, Liran Avisar Ben-Hurin stated: “Today we submitted, to the Minister of Communications, a first policy paper of its kind that coherently addresses the question of regulation on social media. After extensive high level work with experts, hearings for actors in the social platform market, social organizations and meetings with the representatives of the European Union, who have now completed the legislation, we believe that the time has come to step into the field.
“Along with the great news of the information revolution that enables the reduction of gaps, the spread of cross-border knowledge, the exchange of opinions and ideas and allows the unheard to bring their voice to the town square, the time has come to face the side effects – with offensive, extreme, inciting, violent, racist discourse – that endangers public safety and mental and physical well-being.
“For the first time, we recommend recognizing the responsibility of the platforms as content managers and not as a“bulletin boards” and we will correct the imbalance in the relationship of forces between the operators of the social platforms and the user public, which leads to a violation of their rights. We approached the task with reverence and achieved a result that, in our estimation, incentivizes the platforms to clean the air pollution from the discourse space as much as possible while maintaining the advantages of the platform and the freedom of expression of the users.”
The full report is attached for your perusal. Below are the main points of the Committee’s recommendations adopted by the Minister of Communications:
Applying regulations to online social media platforms, the number of users of which exceeds 5% of Israel’s population. These platforms will be defined as follows: “A service the main purpose of which is the hosting and distribution of content for which the following conditions are met:
- The content is intended to be distributed to the general public.
- The content was mostly created by users.
- Access to content is provided through search and recommendation systems.
Dealing with illegal and offensive content.
- Applying liability to the platform for the distribution of offensive and illegal content if it did not deal with such quickly after they were brought to its attention. The responsibility on the platforms will apply to content such as: Sexual offenses, defamation, invasion of privacy, threats, incitement to violence, incitement to terrorism, and incitement to racism. Illegal content that will receive special attention and quick and immediate treatment: Distribution of intimate photos or videos and contents that constitute bullying against minor children.
- The obligation of online social media platforms to comply with judicial orders and to establish a particularly fast arrangement for handling sexually offensive content and bullying against minor children.
- The establishment of a notification and action mechanism in which the public can inform the platform about offensive and illegal content and it will be obligated with a proportionate, reasonable, justified, and speedy response.
- The establishment of a mechanism for “reliable reporters”, who will receive priority in handling their inquiries from the platforms.
- The legislation of platform and user relations
- The platform’s obligation is to inform the user whose activity has been restricted about the type of restriction, the reasons for imposing the restriction, the initiator of the restriction, and the user’s options for appealing the restriction.
- Making the terms of use and community rules of the platform available in Hebrew and Arabic while detailing possible violations of the rules and ways to appeal blocks and restrictions.
- Highlighting sponsored content and the person behind it.
- Establishing a two-stage appeal mechanism within which they will be able to appeal the platform’s decision up to six months after it was made.
- The platform must be treated as a “dual-essence” entity and be obligated to conduct itself objectively and fairly toward all users.
Obligations of transparency before the regulator
- Each platform will report the number of its active users in Israel.
- Each platform will report on the scope and types of offensive content in Israel.
- Data on blocking of users and content removal.
- Details of the amount and resources of the content monitoring of the platform in Israel in Hebrew and Arabic.
- Details of the platform’s list of reliable reporters and the number of reports received through them.
- The coordination of each platform’s information on the actions taken to reduce harm to sensitive populations (minors, those with disabilities, etc.).
Management and assessment of risks proactively on the part of the platforms
- Applying an obligation to carry out a risk assessment of negative effects that can be expected in relation to the fundamental rights of users in Israel, civil discourse, the electoral process, public security, gender-based violence, the protection of public health, and minors.
- Publishing the main systemic risks to the public and publishing suggestions for minimizing them.
The legislation of the platform’s relations with the State of Israel
- Obligating to establish a representation of the platform in Israel alongside a legal representation to be established in Israel.
- Certification of a regulator to oversee the platforms and map the main risks in their activity.
- The regulator will be a body handling research and knowledge in the field of regulating online social media platforms, will serve as a center for public inquiries on the subject, and will submit relevant information on the subject.
- The regulator will have the authority to demand information it needs for overseeing and enforcement.
- Applying Israeli jurisdiction in disputes between Israeli users with the platforms and applying Israeli law to them.