The EU has adopted specific EU Guidelines on freedom of expression online and offline. 

Technological innovations in information and communications technology have created new opportunities for individuals to share their opinion with a mass audience and have enhanced political participation and access to information. However, innovations have also brought new challenges, such as online censorship, hate speech and surveillance. Narratives about “fake news” and disinformation campaigns affect our ability to form an opinion independently.

All human rights that exist offline must also be protected online. Against the background of EU measures to tackle online disinformation, a number of large online platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter have agreed with the EU on self-regulatory Codes of Conduct on Hate Speech and Disinformation.