EU sends formal requests to Meta, TikTok over doable disinformation, unlawful content material

The European Union (EU) despatched formal requests to Meta and TikTok on Thursday for particulars about their dealing with of disinformation and unlawful content material, because the bloc ramps up strain on social media firms to adjust to its new on-line rules.

Each firms obtained warning letters from EU Commissioner Thierry Breton final week, following the outbreak of the battle between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas and a ensuing deluge of misinformation and graphic content material on-line.

Neither firm responded to a request for remark Friday.

The formal request marks a extra aggressive step by the EU, which famous in Thursday’s announcement that it might determine to open formal proceedings towards Meta or TikTok relying on their responses.

Meta and TikTok have till Wednesday to reply with extra details about their “disaster response” and till Nov. 8 to answer separate considerations about defending election integrity and minor security.

Whereas the request to TikTok doesn’t particularly point out the Israel-Hamas battle, it does ask in regards to the platform’s efforts to cease the unfold of terrorist and violent content material, hate speech, and disinformation.

X, previously often known as Twitter, obtained the same request final week, shortly after responding to a warning letter from Breton. The commissioner stated in a publish on X that the formal request signified the “first step in our investigation” into the platform’s compliance with the EU’s Digital Companies Act.

The platform has been a specific hotbed of misinformation amid the Israel-Hamas battle, with outdated and unrelated images and movies, and even online game footage, being misrepresented as present and real. 

Whereas misinformation typically spreads on-line throughout conflicts, specialists have warned that the quite a few adjustments Elon Musk has made to X since shopping for the social media firm final fall might be exacerbating the difficulty.