EU countries should be free to tackle online hate speech, EU court adviser says

EU countries should be able to curb the spread of hate speech online without fear of breaching the bloc's broadcasting rules, an EU court adviser said on Thursday, in a vote of support for Lithuania's fight against inflammatory content.

The European Union wants to minimize fake news or foreign interference in campaigning for European Parliament elections in May and national elections in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine in coming months.

EU Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Oe issued his opinion after a Lithuania court sought guidance on the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania's action against TV channel NTV Mir Lithuania, owned by British company Baltic Media Alliance.

The Lithuanian agency in its May 2016 decision required NTV programs to be re-broadcast or distributed online only in...