Action against terrorist material online

“The proposals now being presented by the Govern­ment boost the Swedish Police Authority’s ability to fight terrorism. It is vital that the Police have the necessary tools to effectively counter­act the forces in society that want to instil fear and don’t care if inno­cent people are affected,” says Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer.

Terrorism involves criminal activities of a very serious and system-threatening nature, and is one of the most serious threats to demo­cracy, the free exercise of human rights and economic and social develop­ment. It is also found online.

The EU regulation in the area, which aims to prevent the spread of terrorist content online, has applied since June 2022. The regulation contains several new legal tools to enable the com­petent authorities in the EU – in Sweden, the Swedish Police Authority – to counter­act terrorist content being dis­seminated to the public online.

The draft legislation referred to the Council on Legislation contains a pro­posal for an act with pro­visions to com­plement the EU regulation. The new act would allow the Swedish Police Authority to impose fines and financial penal­ties on online hosting service providers that do not meet their obligations under the regulation. One example is if terrorist content is not removed – in such cases, the Swedish Police Authority can decide to impose financial penalties of at least SEK 5 000 and at most SEK 5 million. There are also exceptions for the most serious cases, in which a financial penalty cor­responding to four per cent of the provider’s total turnover may be imposed.

In addition, the legislative pro­posals also include a pro­vision that would facilitate information exchanges between the Swedish Police Authority and the Swedish Security Service. This is to ensure that the Swedish Police Authority has access to the data that may be necessary to assess potential terrorist content.

It is proposed that the act, which does not apply to material protected by the Freedom of the Press Act or the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression, enter into force on 1 July 2023.