EU threatens Zuckerberg with sanctions for disinformation on Facebook and Instagram about war in Israel
Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, has written a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying there has been a surge in illegal content and misinformation on the platforms owned by him.
Source: CNN, as reported by European Pravda
He called on the owner of the corporation, which notably owns Facebook and Instagram, to respond within 24 hours to his requests about the need to fight disinformation, reminding him that failure to do so could result in fines.
The European Commissioner asked Zuckerberg to ensure compliance with the rules, combat illegal content and deploy proportionate and effective mitigation measures.
Quote: "I urgently invite you to ensure that your systems are effective. Needless to say, I also expect you to be in contact with the relevant law enforcement authorities and Europol, and ensure that you respond promptly to any requests," Breton said.
Background:
- On 11 October, Thierry Breton called on Elon Musk to combat the spread of disinformation on his Twitter (X) platform following the Hamas attack on Israel in order to comply with new EU rules on online content.
- Earlier, European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová on 10 October called on tech giants, including Elon Musk's Twitter (X) social media platform, to be more responsible in combating the spread of Russian disinformation.
- A study published by the European Commission in early September found that Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) played a major role in Russian propaganda about Ukraine reaching more people than before the war began.
- The European Union's Digital Services Act, which took effect for the largest social networks on 25 August, requires major platforms to assess the risk of spreading false information, prevent the worst of it from being promoted through algorithms, and subject their operations to audits.
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