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Event
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Blurred Boundaries: Legal, Ethical, and Practical Limits in Detecting and Moderating Terrorist, Illegal and Implicit Extremist Content Online while Respecting Freedom of Expression

Dec
02

On Tuesday, 2 December 2025, at 15:00 - 17:00 CET, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) will host a Live Briefing to mark the launch of the report: 

Blurred Boundaries: 

Legal, Ethical, and Practical Limits in Detecting and Moderating Terrorist, Illegal and Implicit Extremist Content Online while Respecting Freedom of Expression

Blurred Boundaries Live Briefing 02.12.2025

Commissioned by the WODC (the Dutch Research and Data Centre of the Ministry of Justice and Security), at the request of the Netherlands’ National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), ICCT conducted a feasibility study regarding the development of a reliable framework for detecting and moderating extremist and terrorist content online. Included in this category of content is the so-called ‘borderline’ content, which is not always easily detectable due to its implicit character. 

The following topics will be addressed during the Live Briefing:  

  • The harmfulness of terrorist, extremist, and so-called ‘borderline’ content online; 

  • The EU regulatory framework: what content can be moderated, and what content falls under the freedom of expression? 

  • Why ‘borderline’ content is not a useful term, and why ‘implicit extremist content’ is more useful for moving forward. 

  • What indicators are relevant to recognising ‘implicit extremist content’ online? 

  • What are the key challenges in developing an assessment framework? 

  • Key recommendations for Host Service Providers and policymakers. 

The event will feature contributions from authoritative speakers:

ModeratorJesse Six Dijkstra, former Member of the Dutch Parliament

Speaker – Dr Bibi van Ginkel LL.M., Programme Lead of the Preventing and Countering Terrorism Pillar at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.

Speaker – Tanya Mehra LL.M., Programme Lead of the Rule of Law Responses to Terrorism Pillar at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.

Speaker – Representative of the NCTV (TBA)

Speaker – Arda Gerkens, Chair of the ATKM

Speaker – Marlene Wisniak, Senior Legal Manager for AI and Human Rights at the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law

Photocredit: Pravit/Adobe Stock