2023-10-15 08:44:00
After alerting X (ex-Twitter), it was time for Thierry Breton, member of the European Commission, to send a warning letter to YouTube as well.
Addressed to Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai, the notice seeks to recall the company’s duties in combating disinformation regarding the war between Israel and Hamas; moderating content in light of the European Digital Services Regulation. Specifically, Brenton demands that the company be “very vigilant” regarding content posted on YouTube about the conflict.
“In this context, I would first like to remind you that you have a special obligation to protect the millions of children and teenagers who use your platforms in the European Union (EU) against violent content depicting hostage taking and other explicit videos […] second, when you receive notifications of illegal content in the EU, you must be timely, diligent and objective in taking action and removing the content…,” Brenton wrote in the letter.
The commission member also highlights the need to implement measures to combat misinformation, and that the video sharing service also must be able to differentiate between reliable news sources and sources that spread terrorist propagandawith manipulated content and clickbait.
In an interview with the international portal The Verge, Ivy Choy, a spokesperson for YouTube, stated that the platform removed tens of thousands of videos classified as harmful and that it closed hundreds of channels following the attacks on Israel and the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. .
He also added that “the platform’s system continues to connect people with high-quality news and information” and that the YouTube team remains vigilant in monitoring all content to act quickly; not only in routine videos, but also in lives and shorts.
In addition to alerting YouTube to the ongoing conflict situation, Brenton also addressed the issue of elections that are about to take place in some European countries. He asks that the service notify its team of the measures being taken to mitigate the making of deepfakes.
Still on the subject of the war between Israel and Hamas, the member of the Commission also warned the Meta and the TikTok addressing the same concern about the spread of misinformation on the platform.
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