At stake is the new Action Plan for European Democracy, which provides that in 2021 “the Commission will propose an initiative to extend the EU’s list of crimes under article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to cover hate crimes and hate speech, including online”.

Article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union refers to “criminal offenses and sanctions in areas of particularly serious crime with a cross-border dimension” and it is here where it is mentioned crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering that Brussels intends to include hate speech on the internet.

The institution justifies the measure with the increase in physical and online threats and attacks on journalists in the EU. "Journalists are targets of harassment, hate speech and campaigns of smear, sometimes even initiated by political actors, in Europe and abroad, and women journalists are particularly targeted", reinforces the European Commission, noting that, sometimes, this leads to “self-censorship and a reduction in the space for public debate on important issues”, reinforced the European Commission, according to Lusa News Agency.