An Austrian court ruled that the comments were
intended to insult and defame the politician and
Facebook removed access to them in Austria.
In his legal opinion, EU Court of Justice
Advocate General Maciej Szpunar said
companies like Facebook can be ordered by a
court “to seek and identify” duplicate copies
of information that a court has deemed illegal
posted by any users of a platform.
Szpunar added that because European law on
electronic commerce “does not regulate the
territorial scope of an obligation to remove
information disseminated via a social network
platform,” platforms can be ordered to remove
the information posted by users worldwide.
He also ruled that platforms could be forced to
track down any similar illegal content, but only if
it was posted by the original user.
Facebook said Szpunar’s opinion undermines a
longstanding principle that countries shouldn’t
have the right to curb free expression in other
countries and it called on the EU Court of Justice
to limit court orders to national borders.
“This case raises important questions about
freedom of expression online and about the role
that internet platforms should play in locating
and removing speech, particularly when it comes
to political discussions and criticizing elected
officials,” the company said in a statement.
Szpunar said that his recommendation
sought to respect the balance between
privacy rights, the freedom to do business
and freedom of expression.
The adviser’s decision is not legally binding but
top EU courts follow that guidance in most cases.