EU om olagligt och skadligt innehåll på Internet. En diskursteoretisk analys

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This thesis analyses how the European Unions institutions deal with the issue of illegal and harmful content on the Internet in key documents presented during the period 19961999. Particular attention is attached to content where the legal status is determined in relation to the user and to content that is legal, but characterized as harmful and entailing a need for special protective measures. The theoretical and methodological approach draws on discourse theory as formulated by Laclau and Mouffe. The thesis studies how the problem is represented in key documents from the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, with particular regard to the discourse on harmfulness, the child and Europe. The findings are that the overall discourse has shifted focus over time, from an emphasis on the protection of minors toward a more market-oriented discourse stressing the importance of protecting the competitiveness of the European economy. The discourse on harmfulness where meaning is fixed around sexuality, violence and ideas remains unchanged and is thus understood as a closed discourse. Some differences are, however, detected between the institutions respective discourses. The discourse on the child is more open to variations, yet by all institutions established upon notions of minors, harmfulness and parental figures. The overall discourse on Europe embraces...