French lawmaker, victimized herself by online hate, drafts law against it

The Czech news server Seznamzprávy.cz reported last Thursday that Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has promised to provide French courts with data about users who take advantage of that social networking service to express hate and xenophobia. Lawmakers in the French National Assembly have also begun to discuss the issue.
French MP Laetitia Avia has become the face of that effort. She is a frequent target of hateful, racist attacks online.
"For me, this is an everyday subject. Ever since I was elected MP, there has not been a day when somebody didn't attack me through social media for having dark skin," Avia said in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro.
"None of those people has criticized my political activity," the lawmaker told the paper. According to surveys done for the FranceInfo company, as many as 22 % of young people in France (aged 18-24) have been the targets of attacks and bullying through the Internet.
"Those are just the ones who admit this has happened. For many people this remains a taboo, they are ashamed of it," Avia believes.
The French MP comes from a poorer suburb of Paris and was born in France to parents from Togo. During the 2017 elections she became a symbol of diversity in France as part of the movement that brought French President Macron to office.
Avia wants hateful attacks committed through online social networks to be assessed in the same way they would be if perpetrated on the streets. "If somebody were to shout 'you black mug' at somebody on a bus, the other passengers would object and ask the driver to eject that person," Avia told the British newspaper The Guardian.
According to the bill, hateful posts would have to be removed by social media companies within 24 hours. The law would cover attacks motivated by disability, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.
If the companies operating the network failed to react, they could be fined up to EUR 10 million. The French law has been partially inspired by a German law about online hate.
That legislation took effect last year and sparked controversy and discussion about freedom of speech. French lawmakers say their law will be far more concrete and should not endanger freedom of expression online.
Don't miss:
- France: Journalist sentenced to six months for racist articles about immigrants from the Maghreb and Romani people
- Belgium charges French comedian over racist remarks
- France investing EUR 100 million into combating racism
- French politician gets nine months for comparing minister to monkey
- French perfumer Guerlain fined for racist statements
Related articles:
- German MEP of Romani origin Romeo Franz: The situation for Roma in Ukraine is shocking, I could not believe Roma live in such conditions in Europe
- CNN: Czech Republic has discriminated against Romani refugees from Ukraine, updated data refute the myth that they all hold dual citizenship
- Czech Police arrest purveyors of disinformation who hatefully threatened refugees from Ukraine, court remands them into custody
- Czech research finds one-third of Romani refugees from Ukraine have experienced discrimination here, most children are not in education, dual citizenship has not been "abused" by them
- Former Czech MP loses appeal over his hateful call to "get rid of useless people", the original sentence stands
- Hungary's Jewish Community protests PM Orbán's racist speech in which he said Hungarians don't want to become a "mixed-race" nation
- Czech volunteers say second-largest city has broken its agreement by closing camp used by Romani refugees from Ukraine near Grand Hotel
- New handbook describes how to intervene against daily hatred and racism in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands
- Czech local candidates who quit the "Mayors and Independents" party have secured enough signatures to run as independents
- All candidates for the "Mayors and Independents" party in Czech town are quitting to run as their own group after mayor is told not to run for espousing racist violence
- Czech mayor must either withdraw his candidacy today or be delisted as a candidate by his party ahead of local elections for his racist advocacy of violence against Romani people
- Czech party calls on mayor to withdraw from local election over racist approval of violence against Romani people