This Friday, the European Commission reminded Alphabet, the parent company of Google, of its obligations regarding moderation on the YouTube platform in the context of the rise of illegal content and disinformation related in particular to the war between Israel and Hamas.
In recent days, a European executive has warned Meta and TikTok about a resurgence of misinformation on these platforms and even launched an investigation into social network X (formerly Twitter) as part of Europe’s new digital services legislation (DSA), which came into force at the end of August.
European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Thierry Breton sent a letter to Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, asking him to “be very careful” in complying with the new rules. The letter was published on social networks Bluesky and X.
“Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have seen an increase in illegal content and the spread of disinformation in the EU through certain platforms,” Breton wrote.
Breton stressed that Google has a “special obligation to protect the millions of children and teenagers” who use YouTube “from violent content depicting hostage situations and other shocking videos.”
He also insisted on the need to “sufficiently differentiate” reliable sources of information from “terrorist propaganda” and “manipulated content.”
The French commissioner also asked Sundar Pichai to brief Brussels on measures taken against deepfakes in the context of several upcoming elections in Europe.
“I ask you to actively, quickly, accurately and fully respond to the questions that I raised in this letter,” writes Thierry Breton, reminding that “the initiation of a possible investigation and the discovery of non-compliance may lead to sanctions.”
YouTube said it was “studying the letter” from the European Commissioner.
“Following the devastating attacks on civilians in Israel and the escalating conflict in Israel and Gaza, our teams have removed thousands of harmful videos (…), are working 24 hours a day to monitor harmful images, and remain vigilant to take action. quickly, if necessary, in videos, clips and live broadcasts,” the platform assured in response to AFP.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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