Global Medium, Local Laws : Regulating Cross-Border Cyberhate

Vanacker assesses how the legal paradigms regarding hate speech in the United States and Europe have been affected by the Internet. He finds that the Internet has not altered the way the United States and Europe address hate speech. A particular concern is how European countries can uphold strict hate speech laws against sites hosted in the United States where hate speech is protected under the First Amendment. Solutions to this problem are evaluated against a normative framework based on three principles: regulation should be effective, should respect the layered maturity of the Internet, and should be grounded in a representative concept of sovereignty. Vanacker concludes that European countries should focus on targeted hate speech, seek voluntary compliance from American ISPs, and enforce their laws on local ISPs and search engines.