Hamas is barred from most social media platforms. But its following has surged on popular messaging app Telegram since its October 7 terror attack on Israel.
Hamas is a designated foreign terror organization in the United States, and new internet laws in the European Union mean large social media platforms can face penalties for hosting terroristic content.
Meta and Google prohibit Hamas accounts, but Telegram, a company founded by a Russian entrepreneur which is now based in Dubai, has decided to allow the group to continue use its service.
X, formerly Twitter, says it also has a ban on Hamas and has removed “hundreds” of “Hamas-affiliated accounts.” Last week, however, the European Union announced it was opening an investigation into the company about disinformation and illegal content about the conflict on its platform.
For years, critics of social media have tried to hold platforms accountable by suing them for the content they host, including material produced by terror groups.
But US courts have generally looked askance at this type of litigation, and few if any potential content moderation lawsuits linked to the Israel-Hamas war will get very far, at least in the United States, according to John Bergmayer, an attorney specializing in platform liability issues at Public Knowledge, a US-based consumer advocacy group.
The European Union has warned very large platforms this past week that they could also be fined billions if their handling of illegal content or mis- and disinformation violates the Digital Services Act (DSA), a law that went into effect for companies including Meta, X and TikTok in August.
The original article contains 942 words, the summary contains 236 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Hamas is a designated foreign terror organization in the United States, and new internet laws in the European Union mean large social media platforms can face penalties for hosting terroristic content.
Meta and Google prohibit Hamas accounts, but Telegram, a company founded by a Russian entrepreneur which is now based in Dubai, has decided to allow the group to continue use its service.
X, formerly Twitter, says it also has a ban on Hamas and has removed “hundreds” of “Hamas-affiliated accounts.” Last week, however, the European Union announced it was opening an investigation into the company about disinformation and illegal content about the conflict on its platform.
For years, critics of social media have tried to hold platforms accountable by suing them for the content they host, including material produced by terror groups.
But US courts have generally looked askance at this type of litigation, and few if any potential content moderation lawsuits linked to the Israel-Hamas war will get very far, at least in the United States, according to John Bergmayer, an attorney specializing in platform liability issues at Public Knowledge, a US-based consumer advocacy group.
The European Union has warned very large platforms this past week that they could also be fined billions if their handling of illegal content or mis- and disinformation violates the Digital Services Act (DSA), a law that went into effect for companies including Meta, X and TikTok in August.
The original article contains 942 words, the summary contains 236 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!