This means that websites that do not moderate third party content should generally not be held liable for that content. At a minimum, websites should not be held liable until they receive an actual and reliable notification of a breach of the law. Without such protection, many websites could simply not offer an opportunity to third parties to post comments, because of the cost and burden of moderating that content, to the detriment of freedom of expression online. As noted above, this is already starting to happen in Jordan. Globally, many of the most popular social media tools – including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – would simply not be able to operate under these conditions and enormous parts of the web would just have to close down. These standards are set out clearly in the Council of Europe’s Declaration on Freedom of Communication on the Internet, which states: Principle 6: Limited liability of service providers for Internet content Member states should not impose on service providers a general obligation to monitor content on the Internet to which they give access, that they transmit or store, nor that of actively seeking facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity. Member states should ensure that service providers are not held liable for content on the Internet when their function is limited, as defined by national law, to transmitting information or providing access to the Internet. In cases where the functions of service providers are wider and they store content emanating from other parties, member states may hold them co-responsible if they do not act expeditiously to remove or disable access to information or services as soon as they become aware, as defined by national law, of their illegal nature or, in the event of a claim for damages, of facts or circumstances revealing the illegality of the activity or information.37 Second, the conditions on comments imposed via Article 49(d) are, for the most part, not justifiable. There is no reason, for example, why comments should be required to relate to the topic of the news piece. One of the values of the Internet is as a freewheeling forum for discussion and people should be free, subject to otherwise legitimate legal restrictions, to post whatever they want. Shifting to a new topic is perfectly legitimate. And, as noted above, websites should not be required to monitor or “validate” third party content. Third, websites should not require individuals who post third party comments to disclose their identities. The importance of anonymity online is widely recognised as a key freedom of expression value. As the special international mandates on freedom of expression stated in their 2015 Joint Declaration: 37 Adopted 28 May 2003. Available at: https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectID=09000016805dfbd5. Jordan: Analysis of the Press and Publications Law, 1998, as Amended - 24