France: Web sites will sign pledge to combat hate speech

Agencies - Abu Dhabi
France said it was optimistic that US-based social networking platforms, including Facebook and Snapchat, would sign a pledge to fight hate speech on the Internet despite a delay at the last minute.

France, which is hosting the G7 summit in Biarritz, had initially hoped to persuade major social media companies to sign the so-called "open, free and secure Internet charter" on Friday, according to the official agenda of the summit.

But US President Donald Trump has put pressure on their chief executives not to sign the pledge publicly, Radio Europe 1 said. Washington later denied such pressure.

French Minister of State for Digital Affairs Cedric Ou said on Saturday the signing had only been postponed and would take place on Monday.
He added: "The idea at first was to urge the platforms to come to Biarritz and so far the United States opposes the signing of this pledge."

He continued: "Diplomacy was a sensitive thing to make American platforms come to Biarritz and sign something in the absence of the US president there."

"There is no doubt about the fact that social media will sign the pledge," he said.

In Washington, a senior Trump administration official said the US government had not taken a stand on the initiative and had not pressured US companies not to sign.

He added that sector companies had gathered to ease the formulation of the initiative and that the White House is still evaluating it.