The European Union (EU) has expanded its scrutiny of tech companies’ efforts to combat the spread of illegal content on their social media platforms amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd., and Meta Platforms Inc. have been added to the list of companies being investigated by the European Commission.
The EU formally requested information from TikTok and Meta on how they are addressing issues related to election disinformation, as well as the dissemination of “terrorist and violent content and hate speech” following the Hamas-Israel conflict. The companies have until October 25 to respond to these inquiries.
This move comes after a similar request for information was made to Elon Musk’s X. Notably, Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union.
The EU’s new Digital Services Act mandates that social media companies enhance their content moderation efforts and employ risk mitigation strategies to reduce the spread of harmful content. Non-compliance with these regulations could result in fines amounting to as much as six percent of annual revenue or potential bans from the EU for repeated rule violations.
Failure to respond to the European Commission’s requests for information may also result in fines for Meta, TikTok, and X. Earlier this month, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton had issued warning letters to these companies, emphasizing their obligations under the Digital Services Act to implement necessary content moderation measures.