Photo © Anatoly Vartanov – Fotolia
(BRUSSELS) – Online platforms have one hour to remove terrorist content referred by EU states’ authorities, under landmark EU rules on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content which entered into force Monday.
The new rules are expected also to help counter the spread of extremist ideologies online – seen as a vital part of preventing attacks and addressing radicalisation.
EC vice-president Margaritis Schinas hailed the rules as an important milestone in Europe’s counter-terrorism and anti-radicalisation response: “With these landmark new rules, we are cracking down on the proliferation of terrorist content online and making the EU’s Security Union a reality. From now on, online platforms will have one hour to get terrorist content off the web, ensuring attacks like the one in Christchurch cannot be used to pollute screens and minds.”
The rules include strong safeguards to ensure the full respect of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and information.
The Regulation will also set transparency obligations for online platforms and for national authorities to report on the amount of terrorist content removed, the measures used to identify and remove content, the outcomes of complaints and appeals, as well as the number and type of penalties imposed on online platforms.
EU Member States will be able to sanction non-compliance and to decide on the level of penalties, which will be proportionate to the nature of the infringement.
The size of the platform will be taken into consideration, so as to not impose unduly high penalties relative to the platform’s size.
Member States and online platforms offering services in the EU now have one year to adapt their processes. The Regulation applies as of 7 June 2022.
