EU demands that internet companies take down illegal and 'terrorist content' down within an hour - or face harsh fines

EU decides Facebook, Twitter, Google et al haven't done enough to take down terrorist and illegal content

The European Union is planning on levying harsh fines on social media networks that fail to take down on what it regards as illegal and terrorist content within an hour.

Julian King, the EU's commissioner for security, claimed that self-regulation had failed and that the European Commission therefore needed to take firmer action against social media companies.

"We cannot afford to relax or become complacent in the face of such a shadowy and destructive phenomenon," Julian King, the EU's commissioner for security, told the Financial Times (subscription required). He added that the EU had not seen enough progress on tackling terrorist material published on their networks.

As a result, the FT reports, the European Commission is planning to go ahead with plans published in March to levy harsh fines on social media networks that fail to take down illegal and terrorist content within an hour.

Back in March, the European Commission gave internet companies that allowed people to post content online three months to report the measures they were taking to remove illegal and terrorist content within the targets it had set.

The Commission demanded that social media and other internet companies needed to employ thousands of people to oversee the content, and that they should also proactively inform the authorities of any potentially illegal content that they should find.

"These recommendations apply to all forms of illegal content ranging from terrorist content, incitement to hatred and violence, child sexual abuse material, counterfeit products and copyright infringement," the Commission stated at the time.

It continued: "The Recommendation builds on the on-going work with the industry through various voluntary initiatives to ensure that the internet is free of illegal content and reinforces actions taken under different initiatives."

The demands, though, conflict with other EU initiatives to, for example, stimulate the European Union's largely moribund indigenous internet economies, with almost all the major online and technology companies in the world being either US-owned, moving their headquarters to the US, or Chinese - like Baidu, Alibaba, TenCent etcetera.