EU could fine tech firms if they fail to remove terror content in time

The EU’s commissioner for
security, Julian King.
Alexandros
Michailidis/Shutterstock

• The EU Commissioner for Security Julian King is drawing
  up legislation, which would force tech companies to take down
  terrorist content or face fines.
• King told the Financial Times that the European
  Commission has not seen enough progress on the removal of
  terrorist material from tech platforms.
• A senior EU official said the draft legislation would
  likely impose a limit of one hour for platforms to delete
  terr0r-related material flagged by enforcement
  agencies.

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The EU is planning to crack down on tech companies like Facebook,
YouTube, and Twitter by imposing fines if they don’t remove
terrorist material from their platforms quickly enough.

The EU Commissioner for Security Julian King told the Financial
Times that in draft regulation due to be published next
month, the EU will take a harder line with tech companies.

Until now the EU has adopted a policy of allowing tech companies
to self-regulate, but King said the EU has “not seen enough
progress” from tech companies and is taking a stronger position,
“in order to better protect our citizens.”

The exact details of the proposed regulation are still being
thrashed out, but a senior EU official told the FT that tech
companies would have a time limit of one hour to remove any
material marked as terrorist content by the police or other
relevant law enforcement. If companies like Facebook, Google and
Twitter fail to do so, they could face fines.

“We cannot afford to relax or become complacent in the face of
such a shadowy and destructive phenomenon,” said King.

This would be the first time the EU has targeted tech companies’
handling of illegal content with punitive measures, but the
Commission has butted heads with big tech before.

It has demonstrated a willingness to punish Silicon Valley giants
for wrongdoing, such as the
record-breaking $5 billion fine for Google in July for
abusing the dominance of its Android operating system.

King made it clear that the draft legislation would apply to all
websites, large or small.

“The difference in size and resources means platforms have
differing capabilities to act against terrorist content and their
policies for doing so are not always transparent,” he said. “All
this leads to such content continuing to proliferate across the
internet, reappearing once deleted and spreading from platform to
platform.”

Once published, the draft regulation would have to be approved by
a majority of the EU’s 28 member states. There is likely to be
support for the plans, with British Prime Minister Theresa May
previously warning tech firms to get their act together on terror
content. Germany has already introduced fines of up to €50
million ($57 million) for firms that fail to remove hate
speech.

Business Insider has contacted the European Commission, Facebook,
Google, and Twitter for comment.

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