(Telecompaper) The European Commission has teamed up with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft to announce a new code of conduct designed to combat illegal online hate speech. The aim is to "respond the challenge of ensuring that online platforms do not offer opportunities for illegal online hate speech to spread virally," said the EC in a statement. Although many EU member states already seek to enforce many of the new code's policies in their national laws, the rules are the first attempt to codify how the IT companies themselves deal with the spread of illegal hate speech online.