Facebook may have to censor online hate globally, say EU judges

The companies vowed to tackle online hate speech within 24 hours, once made aware of it.

Facebook may be ordered to patrol its platform across the world to remove offensive and defamatory posts by users in the European Union, the bloc’s highest court ruled in another landmark privacy decision.

European courts can force platforms such as the social-network giant to seek and destroy such content once they’ve been alerted, the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg said in a binding decision on Thursday. Courts can also order a worldwide removal as long as they take international law into account when they issue the edicts, the judges said.

Platforms from Facebook to Google’s YouTube won