The European Commission sent a letter to Alphabet Inc. subsidiaries Google and YouTube on Friday warning the Big Tech giant to be aware of graphic content and misinformation during the Israel and Hamas conflict in the Middle East.
The European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton addressed the letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, reminding the company about its content moderation obligations under the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA).
"Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we are seeing a surge of illegal content and disinformation being disseminated in the EU via certain platforms," Breton wrote in the letter, posted on X.
In the letter, Breton highlighted legal requirements for Google to keep graphic content, like hostage videos, hidden from minors in the European Union.
"I would firstly 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," Breton wrote. "This means having appropriate and proportionate measures in place to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors."
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The commissioner also noted the obligation Alphabet Inc. has to control disinformation about Israel's war with Hamas on their social media platforms and to place effective "mitigation efforts" to protect users under 18.
"You need to have in place proportionate and effective mitigation measures to tackle the risks to public security and civic discourse stemming from disinformation. As many users turn to your platform as a source of news, reliable sources should be adequately differentiated from terrorist propaganda and manipulated content, such as repurposed videos or click baits," Breton warned.
Breton also warned of possible penalties if a future investigation were to find that the tech giant was not complying with the EU's DSA.
Under the DSA, Big Tech is required to police their platforms more strictly to better protect European users from hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content. The law also forces tech companies to make it easier for users to flag problems, ban online ads aimed at kids and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with billions in fines.
A YouTube spokesperson told Fox News Digital that they are reviewing Breton's letter.
A YouTube told Fox News Digital that Google's platforms have removed "thousands of harmful videos."
"Following the devastating attacks on civilians in Israel and the escalating conflict in Israel and Gaza, our teams have removed thousands of harmful videos, and our systems continue to connect people with high-quality news and information," a YouTube spokesperson said. "Our teams are working around the clock to monitor for harmful footage and remain vigilant to take action quickly if needed on videos, Shorts and livestreams."
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The platform said that their systems prioritize connecting users with legitimate news sources and closely monitor content to ensure that it follows Google's Community Guidelines.
In addition, the platform said that it monitors age-restricted material and allows some graphic content if it provides suitable context.
"For example, we may allow some graphic content or material that violates our violent extremism policies if it’s included as part of factual reporting with sufficient context from news organizations, or if the content clearly denounces actions in the video," a YouTube spokesperson shared.
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Google also shared that they have a crisis resource panel for Israelis during the war with information from Israeli authorities available in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
