EU Tells Meta to Crack Down on Israel-Hamas Disinformation

The European Union has warned Mark Zuckerberg over the spread of “disinformation” on Meta’s social media platforms after Hamas’ attack on Israel.

It told Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, that it “has 24 hours” to respond and comply with European law.

Social media firms have seen a surge in misinformation about the conflict, including doctored images and mislabelled videos.

On Tuesday the EU warned X, formerly known as Twitter, about such content.

The bloc’s industry chief, Thierry Breton, told Meta it must prove it has taken “timely, diligent and objective action”.

In a letter, he said the firm had 24 hours to tell him about the “proportionate and effective” measures it had taken to counter the spread of disinformation on its platforms.

A Meta spokesperson told journalists that after the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, the company quickly established a special operations centre staffed with experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers, to closely monitor and respond to the rapidly evolving situation.

The European Commission meanwhile reminded all social media companies that they are legally required to prevent the spread of harmful content related to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is a proscribed terrorist group in the EU.

A Commission spokesperson said content circulating online that can be associated with Hamas qualifies as terrorist content, is illegal, and needs to be removed under both the Digital Services Act and Terrorist Content Online Regulation.

On Tuesday, Mr Breton wrote in a letter to Elon Musk that “violent and terrorist content” had not been taken down from X, despite warnings.

Mr Musk said his company had taken action, including removing newly-created Hamas-affiliated accounts.

He asked the EU to list the alleged violations.

Mr Breton did not give details on the disinformation he was referring to in his letter to Mr Musk