EU reaches agreement to remove terrorist content online

By Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - EU institutions on Thursday reached a provisional agreement to remove terrorist content online.

“Competent authorities in the member states will have the power to issue removal orders to the service providers, to remove terrorist content or disable access to it in all member states,” said a statement from EU Council.

“The service providers will then have to remove or disable access to the content within one hour,” it added.

The legislation aims to provide “a swift removal of terrorist content online and to establish one common instrument for all member states to this effect.”

“The proposed rules will apply to hosting service providers offering services in the EU, whether or not they have their main establishment in the member states,” it added.

It will be up to the member states to decide what kind of penalty will be imposed in case of non-compliance with the legislation.

“Service providers which have taken action against the dissemination of terrorist content in a given year will have to make publicly available transparency reports on the action taken during that period,” said the statement.

According to the statement, the regulation will ensure the protection of ordinary users’ and businesses’ rights “including freedom of expression and information and freedom to conduct a business.”

Persons or businesses whose contents have been removed will have the right to submit a complain.​​​​​​​