Israel & Hamas: EU Issues TikTok A Warning

Uploaded on 2023-10-17 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, FREE TO VIEW

EU officials have warned TikTok on Thursday12th October about "illegal content and disinformation" on its platform linked to the war between Hamas and Israel. The European Union official, the Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has issued letters to top social media executives Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Shou Zi Chew over the flood of misinformation on their platforms related to the Israel-Hamas war, warning that EU laws can impose severe financial penalties if the spread of falsehoods goes unchecked.

The letter to TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew urged him to "urgently step up" efforts, and spell out "within the next 24 hours" how it is complying with European law.

The alert, and a demand that Chinese-owned TikTok respond within 24 hours with details on how it is curbing online disinformation, mirrored similar warnings Breton issued this week to X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook parent Meta."Given that your platform is extensively used by children and teenagers, you have a particular obligation to protect them from violent content depicting hostage taking and other graphic videos which are reportedly widely circulating on your platform, without appropriate safeguards," Breton said in a letter to TikTok's CEO.

Social media firms have seen a surge in misinformation about the conflict, including doctored images and mislabelled videos.

The EU has previously warned both X and Meta about such content. It said TikTok needed to be mindful of its popularity with young people. "TikTok has a particular obligation to protect children & teenagers from violent content and terrorist propaganda as well as death challenges & potentially life-threatening content," said Breton in a post on X.

X was given a similar 24-hour deadline and the firm's CEO Linda Yaccarino responded by saying it had removed or flagged "tens of thousands of pieces of content" since Hamas attacked Israel. She also said it had removed hundreds of accounts.

Meta, which owns both Facebook and Instagram has also been handed a similar warning about disinformation, and a 24-hour deadline, by the EU. The EU hasn’t said if it had received a response from Meta, but a European Commission spokesperson said "contacts are ongoing" with the company's compliance teams.

Variety: BBC: CNN: ktvzNews21: PoliticoPro: Barrons: NPR: Image: Robert Wray

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