SPÖ proposal in the state parliament

How the state could take action against hate speech online

There was great sympathy after the fatal knife attack in Villach.(Bild: Katrin Fister)

In response to the terrible terrorist attack in which a 14-year-old was killed in Villach, the SPÖ in Upper Austria is pushing ahead with a state parliament initiative against hate and radicalization on the Internet. It wants to show how the state could help to quickly remove "digital garbage" on the internet.

The 23-year-old assassin from Villach, who allegedly stabbed a teenager to death and seriously injured five other people in mid-February, had become radicalized on TikTok and thus turned into an IS fanatic, according to investigators a few days after the bloody attack.

Trustworthy whistleblowers
It is obviously difficult for the authorities to deal with malicious activities online. The EU is attempting to take action against harmful online content with the Digital Services Act (DSA). One instrument in this is the so-called trusted flaggers - experts who can identify, report and delete problematic content quickly and in a targeted manner (more on this in the info box).

Trusted flaggers

Trusted whistleblowers are special institutions under the Digital Services Act. They are experts in uncovering certain types of illegal online content such as hate speech or terrorist content and reporting it to online platforms. The notices they submit must be prioritized as they are expected to be more accurate than notices submitted by an average user.

Establishing trusted flaggers in Upper Austria
This is precisely where the state of Upper Austria could also contribute to the fight against radicalization online, the SPÖ believes - by also turning Upper Austrian associations, institutions or facilities into trusted whistleblowers.

In an initiative motion in the state parliament on Thursday, it called on the government to "examine which personnel, financial or organizational measures" can be used to support such institutions to act as trusted flaggers. "Structures such as publicly certified advice centers in particular are predestined to uncover and counteract misinformation and anti-democratic online hate speech," the motion states. "The digital garbage on the internet must be removed, and with my motion I am showing how a contribution can be made in Upper Austria," says SPÖ Club Leader Sabine Engleitner-Neu.