TikTokComplies with EU Requests to Fight Disinformation Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict
In response to demands from the European Union (EU) following Hamas’ attack on Israel, TikTok announced efforts to combat disinformation on its platform. EU Internal Market Chief Thierry Breton had given TikTok a 24-hour ultimatum to implement measures to prevent the spread of hate speech and conflict-related misinformation.
Breton emphasized that TikTok has a special responsibility to protect children and young people from violent content, terrorist propaganda and potentially life-threatening dangerous challenges. TikTok CEO Shou Zi called on Chew to intensify its actions and ensure compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a comprehensive content moderation framework that addresses disinformation.
In response to the EU’s directive, TikTok confirmed its commitment to combating terrorism and stated that it actively removes content and accounts that violate its policies. At the time of the announcement, TikTok had already removed more than 5,000 videos and shut down 8,000 live streams.
“We are deeply concerned about the heinous acts of terrorism that took place in Israel last week. “We quickly mobilized our significant resources and personnel to protect the security of our community and the integrity of our platform.”
The social media platform outlined a number of additional measures, including the establishment of a command center, improved automatic detection systems to identify emerging threats, and an increase in Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking moderators to review content related to ongoing events.
Besides TikTok, the EU had also issued warnings and letters to other major social media platforms, including Meta, YouTube and Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), and launched an investigation into the latter two. While both X and Meta state new measures to address concerns, Google has yet to make an official statement.
Under the DSA, all four social media platforms are classified as “very large online platforms” and are subject to the strictest regulations in the legislation. As highlighted in Breton’s notice, they are obliged to remove content flagged by the EU as illegal or harmful.
The EU’s response to the platforms’ actions during the Israel-Hamas conflict underscores the bloc’s determination to use the DSA’s authority to reshape content moderation practices that have historically been dominated by tech giants.