Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The European Commission is formally requesting information from Meta and TikTok on how they’re handling illegal content and disinformation related to the war in Israel. The inquiry comes as part of the European Union’s newly enacted Digital Services Act (DSA), which holds large online platforms legally accountable for the content posted to them.
Both platforms have until October 25th to respond to the Commission’s request. From there, the Commission will evaluate their responses and “assess next steps.”
Under the terms of the DSA, the Commission can impose fines of up to 6 percent of a company’s global turnover if they’re in violation of the rules. The Commission can also impose fines for “incorrect, incomplete or misleading information in response to a request for information,” and platforms also face potential late fees if they don’t respond in time.
Last week, the Commission sent a similar request to X, the platform previously known as Twitter, over “the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech.” Aside from content related to the Israel-Hamas war, the Commission is looking into the ways Meta and TikTok are preserving the integrity of elections.
TikTok is also required to provide more information about how it’s protecting minors on the platform. Meta and TikTok have until November 8th to respond to these additional inquiries.
