Websites or websites containing racist or xenophobic material may be shut down by court order so that Internet users residing in the Republic do not have access.
This is provided for in a bill submitted to the Parliament, which gives the power to a police officer in the context of an investigation for disclosure of xenophobic or racist content, to ask the court unilaterally to issue a decree for the abolition or non-access of users to host websites with racist content, or block only illegal material.
The police investigator, in order to appeal to the court, needs an order from the Chief of Police and after the approval of the Attorney General. The court will be able to issue an order and order compliance, immediately or within a reasonable time or under conditions that the court itself deems appropriate, until the completion of the criminal proceedings, after being satisfied that there is prima facie evidence of the commission of such offense, through a specific website or webpage. The bill also criminalizes the non-compliance of a person against whom such a decree has been issued and will be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or with a fine not exceeding one hundred and seventy thousand euros.
As stated in the explanatory memorandum of the Ministry of Justice, the mentioned amendment is a necessary measure to address the distribution and / or distribution of illegal racist or xenophobic material via the internet. Technology today provides a variety of applications that allow the use of the internet under conditions of anonymity, which can easily be exploited by people who want to use it to create a hostile climate against specific groups of people or to attract sympathizers.
In addition, it is emphasized that through the timely removal of racist or xenophobic material on the Internet or the blocking of Internet access to such material, at the unilateral request of the police investigator, at the stage of investigation and this regardless of whether the perpetrator has been identified, offset the difficulty encountered in such cases by law enforcement authorities in locating the person who posted the illegal material and therefore the length of time required to prosecute him. This measure restricts the spread of this illegal material and prevents or even mitigates the damage it causes.
Source: Philenews / Michalis Hadjivasilis