Europe gives TikTok 24 hours to respond about Israel-Hamas war misinformation, graphic content

European regulator Thierry Breton shared a stern letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Thursday, claiming his office has “indications” that the platform is being used to distribute disinformation and illegal content around the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Breton serves as the European commissioner for the internal market. He said TikTok must be “timely, diligent and objective” about removing misinformation, particularly since minors often turn to the platform as a source of news.

Breton issued similar letters to X owner Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week.

“First, 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 wrote in the letter.

  • Hyperreality
    8•1 year ago

    In the article:

    Under the European Union’s newly enacted Digital Services Act, TikTok must monitor and remove illegal content such as terrorist content or illegal hate speech. TikTok also has to detail its protocols for doing so.

    Wikipedia:

    On 23 April 2023, the European Commission named a first list of 19 online platforms that will be required to comply starting 25 August 2023.

    Ie. they’re sending out warnings under recently enacted legislation.

    Why is this treated so differently from that?

    Apart from the legislation being new, it isn’t. They’ve been warning companies about this for a while now, before the whole Israel-Hamas thing started. Some examples:

    TechCrunch, April 2023:

    Internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, warned Musk last November the company has huge work ahead of it to comply with the incoming pan-EU rulebook — under which penalties for breaches can scale up to 6% of global annual turnover.

    US news, January 2023:

    EU’s Breton Warns TikTok CEO: Comply With New Digital Rules

    You keep missing essential bits of the article and not connecting the dots.

    • @[email protected]English
      -3•1 year ago

      Notice the weasel word of terrorism? So, what Hamas did was terrorism, but what Israel does on a daily basis is just what… geopolitics? I’ve yet to see a state that calls to ban Israeli nationalists from platforms for spreading complete falsehoods, like the whole beheaded babies lie that’s going around now (and being amplified by the president of the United States). That is definitively misinformation, and the use of such falsehoods to attempt to justify Israel’s response is itself an act of terrorism, using fear and intimidation to pursue political goals.

      • @HandBreadedToolsEnglish
        -2•1 year ago

        They released proof of the murdered babies thing today. Feel free to check my comment history for a link if you want. The PM of Israel posted some of the pictures on X.

        • @[email protected]English
          3•1 year ago

          That wasn’t my claim, I said they’re spreading misinformation claiming that babies are being beheaded, and the president of the United States is amplifying that claim, on National TV to boot. Something which no one has proof of, not the Israeli government, not the American government, no one.

          That is sad though, I haven’t seen the dead babies myself yet, thankfully.

          • @HandBreadedToolsEnglish
            -4•1 year ago

            I’m not sure I understand what you mean. I’m saying they literally provided proof today of those dead babies, some of which were beheaded. It makes sense Biden would have been shown them before they were made public, too.

            I said they’re spreading misinformation claiming that babies are being beheaded, and the president of the United States is amplifying that claim, on National TV to boot. Something which no one has proof of, not the Israeli government, not the American government, no one

            This is exactly what I am claiming is incorrect. (Writing this to be absolutely clear)

            Edit: found a really good article about it https://www.reuters.com/world/nato-ministers-shown-horrific-video-hamas-attack-2023-10-12/

            Edit 2: in the article it says the white house later clarified Biden did not see the images, this is incorrect. The white house correspondent said it could not be confirmed, not that he had not seen them. Those are two very different statements lol.

            • @[email protected]English
              8•1 year ago

              It literally says in your own article there is no evidence of beheaded children or babies.

              There were no images to suggest militants had beheaded babies – a particularly explosive accusation that first emerged in Israel’s media and initially confirmed by Israeli officials.