Lag (1998:112) om ansvar för elektroniska anslagstavlor (Act on Responsibility for Electronic Bulletin Boards), Sections 3 to 7, Information, Oversight and Removal Duties

The Act applies to an electronic bulletin board, which section 1 defines as a service for the electronic conveyance of messages, a message being text, image, sound or other information.

Section 2 excludes the mere provision of networks or connections, the conveyance of messages within or between authorities or within a company or group, services protected by the Freedom of the Press Act or the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression, messages intended only for a particular recipient or a defined circle of recipients (electronic mail), and messages covered by Regulation (EU) 2021/784 on terrorist content online.

Section 3 requires the provider of an electronic bulletin board to give everyone who joins the service information about the provider's identity and about the extent to which incoming messages become available to other users. Section 4 requires the provider to oversee the service to the extent reasonably required given the scope and focus of the activity, so as to be able to meet the duty in section 5.

Section 4 a lifts the oversight duty in section 4 for a provider whose bulletin board is an intermediary service under the Digital Services Act. For such a provider, the duty in section 5 applies when the message has come to the provider's knowledge. Section 4 a was added by Lag (2024:956), in force from 1 December 2024.

Section 5 requires the provider, when a user sends in a message, to remove it or otherwise prevent its further dissemination if its content is manifestly of a kind covered by the provisions on unlawful threat, unlawful invasion of privacy, incitement to rebellion, agitation against a population group, child pornography offence, unlawful depiction of violence, or public provocation to terrorism or especially serious crime.

Section 5 also requires removal or prevention of dissemination if it is manifest that the user has infringed copyright, or a right protected by Chapter 5 of the Copyright Act, by sending in the message. Section 5 gives the provider the right to take part of the messages on the service so as to be able to meet that duty. Section 5 in its present form was inserted by Lag (2022:670), in force from 1 July 2022.

Section 6 punishes with a fine a person who intentionally or negligently breaches section 3. Section 7 punishes a person who intentionally or through gross negligence breaches section 5, first paragraph, with a fine or imprisonment for at most six months or, if the crime is grave, imprisonment for at most two years, and a minor case is not punished. Section 7 does not apply where the act is punishable under the Criminal Code, the Copyright Act or the terrorist offences act. The Act took effect on 1 May 1998.