Luxembourg is stepping up its fight against hate speech on the web

In response to a parliamentary enquiry by Françoise Kemp, four ministers - Elisabeth Margue, Yuriko Backes, Claude Meisch and Max Hahn - presented an updated picture of the spread of hate speech in the country and outlined new measures taken by the state.

According to BEE SECURE Stopline, a platform that allows anonymous reporting of illegal online content, complaints about racist, discriminatory and radical publications have increased in 2024:

• 448 URLs were flagged as hate speech, of which 263 were turned over to the authorities;
• 127 URLs dealt with terrorist content (up from 41 in 2023), 89 of which were also escalated.

The content of these messages included calls for violence and hatred based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation. There was an increase in the number of publications glorifying acts of violence against politicians and religious communities.

Article 457-1 of the Criminal Code criminalises public hate speech. In recent years, there has been a marked decrease in new cases: from 160 in 2020 to 45 in 2024.

The reasons are both adjustments in investigative methods and preventive alternatives to judicial measures. The prosecutor's office increasingly offers defendants to participate in the Dialog statt Hass programme from the organisation Respect.lu. This programme is aimed at reflection and working with motives - from aggression to understanding.

For the academic year 2022-2023, BEE SECURE launched the #NOHATEONLINE campaign to promote digital literacy and understanding of the limits of free speech. The portal nohateonline.lu provides tips, quizzes and support information for victims and witnesses of online aggression.

Additionally, the Ministry of Equality (MEGA) and Respect.lu are working on the "Civic Courage Online" project to educate and inspire users to actively respond to hate speech and protect vulnerable groups - especially from LGBTIQ+ and minority communities.

Two national action plans on gender-based violence (including digital forms) and the protection of LGBTIQ+ people from online harassment are scheduled for publication in summer 2025. Both documents are being developed by an inter-ministerial group and will become the legal basis for future programmes.