Regulatory responses to address hate speech from the European experience

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-1904

Keywords:

cybercrime, hate speech, racism, xenophobia, discrimination, incitement, freedom of expression, social networks

Abstract

Introduction: Hate speech is discriminatory and hostile messages towards vulnerable groups that have a detrimental effect on the coexistence of our societies. Internet applications and social networks have contributed to the spread of these harmful speeches, which has led to greater concern about tackling this phenomenon. The aim of this text is to analyse the regulations at European level to combat hate speech. Methodology: This qualitative research consists of the analysis of documents and legal and behavioural rules that regulate hate speech at European level. Results: The main regulatory milestones within the Council of Europe, the European Union, as well as in Germany, France and Spain are identified, identifying their main characteristics. Discussions: The fight against hate speech faces regulatory challenges, due to the difficulty of defining precise contours to prevent and punish harmful behaviour without affecting other rights such as freedom of expression. Conclusions: Although there has been an evolution towards greater intensity of regulation, the main focus has been on the criminal prosecution of hate speech.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Javier García-García, Universidad de las Américas

D. in Law from the University of Castilla-La Mancha and Master in Fundamental Rights. Within public law he has specialized in freedom of expression, media regulation and telecommunications, developing research in these areas internationally with the Latin American Observatory of Regulation, Media and Convergence (OBSERVACOM), in Chile with the Observatory of the Right to Communication (ODC) and in Spain with the Research Network on Community, Alternative and Participatory Communication, RICCAP (Spain). He is currently co-investigator of the project financed by the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development, FONDECYT “Critical factors for a new convergent regulatory institutionality of communications (IRCC) in Chile from the perspective of comparative media systems”.

References

Bilbao Ubillos, J. (2009). La negación de un genocidio no es una conducta punible (Comentario de la STC 235/2007). Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional, 85, 299-352. https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/REDCons/article/view/47867/29323

Garro Carrera, E. (2018). Los discursos de odio en el ordenamiento jurídico penal alemánel “laberinto dogmático” del tipo de incitación a la población del 130 StGB. En J. M. Landa Gorostiza y E. Garro Carrera (Coord.), Delitos de odio: derecho comparado y regulación española (pp. 27-78). Tirant lo Blanch.

Espinoza Rausseo, A. y Rivas Alberti, J. (2020). La interpretación amplia de la libertad de expresión frente al discurso de odio en el derecho alemán. Instituto de Estudios Constitucionales. http://www.estudiosconstitucionales.org/MATERIALES/ALEM.pdf

García García, J. (2017). Respuestas y problemas jurídicos frente al discurso del odio. En VVAA, Contar sin odio, odio sin contar. Visibilidad y contra-narrativas del discurso del odio en los medios para futuros periodistas (pp. 73-84). RICCAP.

Gogorza, A. (2018). Delitos de odio en Francia: panorámica y especial análisis de discursos provocadores. En J. M. Landa Gorostiza y E. Garro Carrera (Coord.), Delitos de odio: derecho comparado y regulación española (pp. 121-135). Tirant lo Blanch.

Landa Gorostiza, J. M. (2018). El discurso de odio criminalizado: propuesta interpretativa del artículo 510 CP. En J. M. Landa Gorostiza y E. Garro Carrera (Coord.), Delitos de odio: derecho comparado y regulación española (pp. 221-260). Tirant lo Blanch.

Marinho Batista, J. D. (2024). Contranarrativas, Narrativas Alternativas e Discurso de Ódio na Era Digital. (Tesis Maestría). Universidade Nova de Lisboa, http://hdl.handle.net/10362/177701

Martín Herrera, D. (2014). Libertad de expresión ¿derecho ilimitado según el TEDH? Del discurso de odio al crimen de odio. Estudios de Deusto, 62(2), 15-40. https://doi.org/10.18543/ed-62(2)-2014pp15-40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/ed-62(2)-2014pp15-40

Risso Ferrand, M. (2020). La libertad de expresión y el combate al discurso del odio. Estudios constitucionales, 18(1), 51-89. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-52002020000100051 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-52002020000100051

Rollnert Liern, G. (2019). El discurso del odio: una lectura crítica de la regulación internacional. Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional, 115, 81-109. https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/redc.115.03 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/redc.115.03

Rollnert Liern, G. (2020). Redes sociales y discurso del odio: perspectiva internacional. IDP. Internet, Derecho y Política, 31, 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.7238/idp.v0i31.3233 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7238/idp.v0i31.3233

Teruel Lozano, G. (2015). La libertad de expresión frente a los delitos de negacionismo y de provocación al odio y a la violencia: sombras sin luces en la reforma del código penal. InDret 4/2015.

Teruel Lozano, G. (2017). El discurso del odio como límite a la libertad de expresión en el marco del convenio europeo. ReDCE, 27.

The Future of Free Speech (2024). Preventing “Torrents of Hate” or Stifling Free Expression Online?. An Assessment of Social Media Content Removal in France, Germany, and Sweden. https://acortar.link/WKtBBL

Tuck, H. y Silverman, T. (2016). The Counter-Narrative Handbook. Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

Downloads

Published

2025-03-06

How to Cite

García-García, J. (2025). Regulatory responses to address hate speech from the European experience. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 10, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-1904

Issue

Vol. 10 (2025)

Section

Communication

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Javier García-García

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Non Commercial, No Derivatives Attribution 4.0. International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.), that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).