France hopeful social media giants Facebook and Snapchat will still sign hate speech pledge after delay
- France says the charter aims to create a collective movement guaranteeing transparency and cooperation for the safe and positive use of the internet
France said it was optimistic that US-based social media platforms including Facebook and Snapchat would still sign a pledge to fight online hate speech despite a last-minute delay.
France, which is hosting the G7 summit in Biarritz, was initially hoping to make social media giants sign a so-called “Charter for an Open, Free, and Safe Internet” on Friday, according to the official programme.
However, the ceremony did not take place and Europe 1 radio said US President Donald Trump had put pressure on the platforms’ chief executives not to sign the pledge publicly. Washington later denied any such pressure.
France’s junior minister for the digital industry said on Saturday the signing had only been delayed and would take place on Monday.
“The initial idea was to make the platforms come to Biarritz and until now, the United States was against the signature of this pledge,” Cedric O told reporters.
“Diplomatically, it was sensitive to make US platforms come to Biarritz and sign something while the American president wasn’t there,” he said, adding that Google, Facebook and Snapchat were among the platforms due to sign the charter.