EU probes Meta and TikTok over Hamas-Israel online content
October 19, 2023
The European Commission has requested details from Meta and TikTok on their efforts to combat disinformation during the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It gave the social media companies a week to outline their measures to counter the spread of terrorist, violent content and hate speech on their platforms.
The commission is already looking into Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Digital Services Act used to enforce disinformation crackdown
On Wednesday, the EU's top tech enforcer, Thierry Breton, expressed fears over the impact of disinformation.
"The widespread dissemination of illegal content and disinformation ... carries a clear risk of stigmatization of certain communities, destabilization of our democratic structures, not to mention the exposure of our children to violent content," Breton, who is the EU internal market commissioner, said.
It follows his warning to tech CEOs, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, and Sundar Pichai of YouTube owner Alphabet, last week, to crack down on illegal content following Hamas' terror attack on Israel.
Major tech companies must prevent a wide range of illegal content from appearing on their platforms or risk facing significant fines under the EU's new regulations.
The new Digital Services Act is being put to the test by the Israel-Hamas war.
Photos and videos have flooded social media of the carnage alongside posts from users pushing false claims and misrepresenting videos from other events.
lo/jcg (Reuters, AP, AFP)