YouTube is the latest large platform to face EU scrutiny regarding the war in Israel


European Commissioner Thierry Breton sent a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai reminding him of the company’s obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) as a large online platform to keep illegal content and disinformation from being shared on YouTube surrounding Israel’s war with Hamas.
“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. He added that YouTube has an obligation to protect children and teens in the EU from violent content on the platform, must promptly take action in response to notices from the EU, and have “proportionate and effective mitigation measures in place” to tackle risks from disinformation.
In a statement to The Verge, YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi said, “following the devastating attacks in Israel and the escalated conflict now underway in Israel and Gaza, we have removed tens of thousands of harmful videos and terminated hundreds of channels. At the same time, our systems continue to connect people with high-quality news and information. Our teams are working around the clock to monitor for harmful footage and remain vigilant to take action quickly if needed on all types of content, including Shorts and livestreams.”
In his letter, Breton also discussed “a second area of pressing concern:” disinformation in elections. “I invite you to inform my team on the details of the measures you have taken to mitigate any deepfakes, also in the light of upcoming elections in Poland, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Belgium, Croatia, Romania and Austria, and the European Parliament elections,” Breton said.
Breton asked that YouTube proactively report relevant information to the EU, but noted that his team will be sending requests on “a number of issues to establish DSA compliance.”
European Commissioner Thierry Breton sent a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai reminding him of the company’s obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) as a large online platform to keep illegal content and disinformation from being shared on YouTube surrounding Israel’s war with Hamas. “Following the terrorist attacks…
Recent Posts
- Nvidia confirms ‘rare issue’ with some RTX 5090 and RTX 5070 Ti GPUs – here’s how to check if you’re affected and to get a replacement
- Silo season 3: Everything we know so far about the Apple TV Plus show
- The iOS 18.4 beta brings Matter robot vacuum support
- Philips Monitors is now offering a whopping 5-year warranty on some of its displays, including a gorgeous KVM-enabled business monitor
- The secretive X-37B space plane snapped this picture of Earth from orbit
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010