<p>The CEO of Alphabet and Google, Sundar Pichai, has received a letter from European Commissioner Thierry Breton informing him of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) in order to prevent the dissemination of unlawful and false material concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict on YouTube.</p>
<p>Breton wrote that after the terrorist assaults by Hamas against Israel, “we are seeing a surge of illegal content and disinformation being disseminated in the EU via certain platforms.” The letter was also written to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan.<img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-234827″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/theindiaprint.com-icc-cricket-world-cup-2023-ben-stokes-dream-for-england-is-still-alive-against-afg.jpg” alt=”theindiaprint.com icc cricket world cup 2023 ben stokes dream for england is still alive against afg” width=”1351″ height=”759″ srcset=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/theindiaprint.com-icc-cricket-world-cup-2023-ben-stokes-dream-for-england-is-still-alive-against-afg.jpg 299w, https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/theindiaprint.com-icc-cricket-world-cup-2023-ben-stokes-dream-for-england-is-still-alive-against-afg-150×84.jpg 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1351px) 100vw, 1351px” title=”EU Reminds Pichai To Remove False Information From YouTube During Israel-Hamas War 12″></p>
<p>The commissioner said late on Friday, “I would like to remind you that you have a particular obligation to protect the millions of children and teenagers using your platforms in the EU from violent content depicting hostage taking and other graphic videos.”</p>
<p>It entails putting in place reasonable and proportional safeguards to guarantee children’s high levels of privacy, security, and safety, he said.</p>
<p>Breton has previously issued warnings to X, Meta, and TikTok on the removal of terrorist propaganda and manipulative material from each of their platforms, such as videos that have been reused or clickbait headlines.</p>
<p>He advised Pichai that “you must be timely, diligent, and objective in taking action and removing the relevant content when warranted when you receive notices of illegal content in the EU.”</p>
<p>Breton said, “Given the urgency, I also want you to be in touch with the appropriate law enforcement agencies and Europol and guarantee that you react quickly to their demands.</p>
<p>He informed Pichai that the DSA demands that, while considering mitigating measures, the danger of the spread of false and manipulative images and information produced with the purpose to influence elections be considered very seriously.</p>
<p>Breton stated, “I invite you to inform my team on the specifics of the steps you have taken to mitigate any deepfakes, also in light of the upcoming elections in Poland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Belgium, Croatia, Romania, and Austria, as well as the elections for the European Parliament.”</p>
<p>“As you know, following the opening of a potential investigation and a finding of non-compliance, penalties can be imposed,” he said.</p>
<p>Since the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s response in Gaza, expert teams from across our company have been working around the clock to monitor our platforms and protect people’s ability to use our apps to shed light on significant developments taking place on the ground, according to a previous statement from Meta.</p>
<p>According to a blog post on the social network, “In the three days after October 7, we removed or marked as disturbing more than 795,000 pieces of content for breaking these policies in Hebrew and Arabic.”</p>
<p>After October 7, “we have removed seven times as many pieces of content on a daily basis for violating our Dangerous Organisations and Individuals policy in Hebrew and Arabic alone,” Meta said. This is in comparison to the two months before.</p>
