A court in Austria has ordered that Facebook must remove postings seen as hate speech, in a ruling that is set to have international implications.

The case was brought by the country’s Green Party after its leader was targeted by a false account.

The court said postings not just in Austria but worldwide must be deleted. Facebook has not yet commented.

The ruling is seen as a victory for campaigners who want to make social media platforms combat online trolling.

The appeals court in Vienna ruled that postings against Greens’ leader Eva Glawischnig as any verbatim re-postings should be removed.

It added that merely blocking the messages in Austria without removing them for users abroad was not sufficient.

The court said it was easy for Facebook to automate this process.

Both Facebook and Google have recently announced measures to address the issue:

• Facebook said it would hire 3,000 people to help stop hate speech, child abuse and self-harm being broadcast on the website
• Google said changes on how its core search engine works would help stop the spread of fake news and hate speech

More information about Hate Crime, including Online Hate Speech, can be found on the True Vision website. 

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For more information about our cyber crime work, please visit www.safeinwarwickshire.com/cybercrime