- The EU gave Meta 24 hours to prevent disinformation on social media platforms and comply with European law.
- The European commission has told all social media companies that they must prevent the spread of harmful content related to Hamas.
As part of the warning, Thierry Breton, the bloc’s industry chief, told Meta that it needed to prove that it had taken diligent and objective action in a timely manner, asking the firm to tell him about the effective and proportionate measures it had taken to counter the spread of disinformation on its platforms, and gave it 24 hours to show that they complied with European laws.
A Meta spokesperson told the BBC that after Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel on Saturday, they established a special operations center staffed by experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers, to closely monitor and respond to the rapidly evolving situation. It said its teams are working around the clock to keep their platforms safe, take action against content that violates their policies or local laws, and coordinate with third-party fact-checkers in the region to limit the spread of misinformation, and will continue to do so as the conflict continues.
Meanwhile, a European Commission Spokesperson said that content circulating on the Internet that could be associated with Hamas is considered terrorist content, is illegal and should be removed in accordance with both the Digital Services Act and the Online Terrorist Content Regulation, and told all social media companies that it is a terrorist organization banned in the USA. He reminded them that they should prevent the spread of harmful content related to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Compiled by: Fatma Ebrar Tuncel
