8 Nov, 2020 @ 13:16
1 min read

Nowhere to hide: Spain joins European action day against internet hate speech

paedo madrid e
Cops go through the computer belonging to the suspect

SPAIN has joined nine other European countries in an action day against racist and xenophobic hate speech on the internet.

In the first of its kind, Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre coordinated the operation, led by Germany, which took place in Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom as well as Spain.

Law enforcement agencies made a total of  97 raids and interrogated an undisclosed number of people over offences such as dissemination of racist and xenophobic hate speech, calls to violence and incitement to commit offences. In Germany alone, officers searched 81 houses.

paedo madrid e
Police targeted online hate

The coordinated action targeted communities and people spreading hate via the internet using different types of content such as posts, comments, and memes that spread hate and propaganda.

A Europol spokesman said: “The operation, targeting no specific organisations or groups, aimed at preventing hate crime, racism and xenophobia circulating online. Law enforcement worked together to also increase awareness of individuals and groups that the World Wide Web is not a legal vacuum.”

He warned that the day showed there was nowhere to hide for lawbreakers trying to hide behind the secrecy of the internet.

He said: “Supposed anonymity does not hinder law enforcement from taking measures against unlawful acts. This first joint action day on hate crimes sends a clear signal to individuals spreading violent hatred on the internet that their actions will be detected.”

Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre supported this initiative of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) from the start with operational coordination and facilitation of information exchange. Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre monitored all contributions, provided analytical support and an overview on the operational activities in continuous and direct contact with the involved law enforcement authorities.

The action was supported also by Finland and other countries through awareness raising on national social media platforms.

Dilip Kuner

Dilip Kuner is a NCTJ-trained journalist whose first job was on the Folkestone Herald as a trainee in 1988.
He worked up the ladder to be chief reporter and sub editor on the Hastings Observer and later news editor on the Bridlington Free Press.
At the time of the first Gulf War he started working for the Sunday Mirror, covering news stories as diverse as Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall (a scoop gleaned at the bar at Heathrow Airport) to massive rent rises at the ‘feudal village’ of Princess Diana’s childhood home of Althorp Park.
In 1994 he decided to move to Spain with his girlfriend (now wife) and brought up three children here.
He initially worked in restaurants with his father, before rejoining the media world in 2013, working in the local press before becoming a copywriter for international firms including Accenture, as well as within a well-known local marketing agency.
He joined the Olive Press as a self-employed journalist during the pandemic lock-down, becoming news editor a few months later.
Since then he has overseen the news desk and production of all six print editions of the Olive Press and had stories published in UK national newspapers and appeared on Sky News.

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