European Union Applies 'Hate Speech' Rules to Internet

Opposition to multiracialism, homosexuality, immigration effectively banned under new Internet rules.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union will be launching new Internet broadcasting rules later this year.

"The European Commission had a duty to protect shared European values," EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding (pictured) told a broadcasting conference in Liverpool, England. "Who in this room... stands for the freedom to spread incitement to racial hatred on the new media?"

Reding said there was a "broad consensus that hate speech rules should also apply to the Internet."

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EU Prepares Internet Laws

European Union officials insisted on Thursday that they had no plans to regulate the internet, as the EU prepares to launch new broadcasting rules later this year.

"I have no intention to 'regulate the internet'," EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding told a broadcasting conference in Liverpool, in the United Kingdom.

However, she said the European Commission had a duty to protect shared European values.

"Who in this room is in favour of child pornography on the new media? Who stands for the freedom to spread incitement to racial hatred on the new media?"

She said there was a broad consensus that child protection and hate speech rules should also apply to "non-linear" services, such as pay TV or internet broadcasts.

Internet firms and some broadcasters have firmly voiced their opposition to an EU-wide law over content.

BBC director-general Mark Thompson said on Wednesday that regulators needed to be realistic about how practical and desirable it was to enforce content in an on-demand, online world.

He said that self-regulation grounded in continuous research into public attitudes was a better option for new media.

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