Facebook says EU court opinion undermines freedom of speech

FILE PHOTO: Stickers bearing the Facebook logo are pictured at Facebook Inc's F8 developers conference in San Jose

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Facebook on Tuesday said an EU court opinion calling for it to seek out content deemed illegal by a local court on its platform undermined free speech across borders.

An advisor to the EU's top court said on Tuesday that Facebook could be ordered to seek out all content on its platform identical to that found to be illegal by a court injunction.

"This case raises important questions about freedom of expression online," the company said in an emailed comment.

"We remove content that breaks the law and our priority is always to keep people on Facebook safe. However this opinion undermines the long-standing principle that one country should not have the right to limit free expression in other countries."

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; editing by Foo Yun Chee)