EU Parliament approving controversial law on terrorist content in social media
The European Parliament has approved the proposed EU law forcing big tech platforms to remove terrorist content within an hour of publication. Civil rights groups have expressed concerns about the proposal from the European Commission. Educational, research, artistic and journalistic work will be protected.
Internet platforms will not have a general obligation to monitor or filter content. However, when competent national authorities have established a hosting service provider is exposed to terrorist content, the company will have to take specific measures to prevent its propagation. It will then be up to the service provider to decide what specific measures to take to prevent this from happening, and there will be no obligation to use automated tools.
Companies should publish annual transparency reports on what action they have taken to stop the dissemination of terrorist content, the Parliament said.
The tech platforms risk fines up to 4% of their global turnover for non-compliance.
Online terrorist content is defined as material inciting terrorism or aimed at recruiting or training terrorists as well as material that provides guidance on how to make and use explosives and firearms for terrorist purposes.
The Parliament says “the new regulation will target content such as texts, images, sound recordings or videos, including live transmissions, that incite, solicit or contribute to terrorist offences, provide instructions for such offences or solicit people to participate in a terrorist group. In line with the definitions of offences included in the Directive on combating terrorism, it will also cover material that provides guidance on how to make and use explosives, firearms and other weapons for terrorist purposes.”
The law will come into force 20 days after it is published in the EU Official Journal.
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