Social media platforms in EU must remove terrorist content within 1 hour

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - Online platforms are obliged to remove terrorist content within an hour in the EU as the bloc’s new legislation became applicable on Tuesday.

The EU passed the Terrorist Content Online Regulation in 2021 to ensure that hosting service providers act promptly if terrorist content has been published or disseminated on their sites.

The law, which entered into force a year ago, gave 12 months for the online platforms to adapt to the changes.

Under the law, all online platforms, including Facebook, Google, and Twitter, must remove terrorist content in an hour after the Europol or an EU member state’s law enforcement authority issues an order.

In addition to directly soliciting to commit or contribute to terrorist offenses, the legislation considers inciting, advocating, or glorifying such acts as terrorist content.

Providers may face a penalty of up to 4% of the platform’s annual revenue if they fail to comply with the one-hour removal order.