The EU is sharpening its online hate speech guidelines following some revealing rollbacks from major tech companies prompted by right-wing backlash and the inauguration of Donald Trump as the US President.

Hate speech online will be included in the EU’s Digital Services Act, which would formalise a code that was voluntarily agreed to by big tech back in 2016.

The new code of content explains how companies are expected to deal with potentially harmful material, such as hate speech, or content that can incite violence.

Under the code, compliant organisations will agree to check two in three content removal requests within 24 hours of being reports, as well as issuing better transparency over hate speech.

It also says that cooperating corporations should allow a network of ‘monitoring reporters’ – entities with expertise on illegal hate speech, to regularly monitor these hate speech notices.

The European Commission has clarified that the code is not a mandatory stipulation of the DSA, but instead the Commission will take it into consideration as a reference point when enforcing other aspects of the DSA, according to a press briefing.

Previous signers of the 2016 code include Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitch, and others.

While the EU does not have a specific definition of hate speech, member countries must criminalise hate speech against racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Some countries have elected to have also criminalised hate speech against gender identify and sexual orientation.

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The move comes after Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced several measures, including cutting its fact checking programme, getting rid of the company’s DEI imitative, and rolling back hate speech protections against the LGBTQ community.

Specifically, Meta’s new hate speech moderation rules, which affect Facebook and Instagram, no long classify posts that contend that members of the LGBTQ community suffer from a mental illness as hate speech.

The Commission also said that it plans to formalise a new code of practice on disinformation, which it hopes to finalise soon.