LONDON (AP) — The European Union on Thursday demanded Meta and TikTok detail their efforts to curb illegal content and disinformation during the Israel-Hamas war, flexing the power of a new law that threatens billions in fines if tech giants fail to do enough to protect users.

The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch, formally requested that the social media companies provide information on how they’re complying with pioneering digital rules aimed at cleaning up online platforms.

The commission asked Meta and TikTok to explain the measures they have taken to reduce the risk of spreading and amplifying terrorist and violent content, hate speech and disinformation.

European Commissioner Thierry Breton, the bloc’s digital enforcer, had previously sent warning letters to the three platforms, as well as YouTube, highlighting the risks that the war poses.

After Hamas militants attacked Israeli communities, “we quickly established a special operations center staffed with experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers, to closely monitor and respond to this rapidly evolving situation,” the company said.

Meta said it has teams working around the clock to keep its platforms safe, take action on content that violates its policies or local law, and coordinate with third-party fact checkers in the region to limit the spread of misinformation.

The original article contains 533 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

The US government is already trying to pile on:

US Senator Michael Bennet Invokes EU’s Censorship Demands, Calls For Big Tech to Censor “Misinformation”

[+] davel@lemmy.ml -7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Disinformation, formerly known as information.

[–] Tarte@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Screenshots of the game Arma 3 are not real photos. Some disinformation is simply disinformation.

The EU asks them to detail how they process and distinguish these fake news and to explain how they make their decisions. The EU did not demand that they change anything, yet. Your criticism is premature.

[–] mojo@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Pls elaborate when information is straight up not true

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago

I’m not going to do that, because my point is more general, about a larger issue.

Remember the Disinformation Governance Board, which lasted all of four months, because it was all too obvious that it was the formation of a formalized censorship regime?

Global North governments are trying to make themselves the arbiters of what is true, and then suppress what they decree to be untrue.

Take a look at this report on the fediverse from the Atlantic Council, the premier Global North foreign policy think tank. They’re going to come for us, just like they came for the corporate social media platforms. Collective Security in a Federated World (full PDF report)