EU to tackle terror content on the Internet

The European Union plans to implement a "one hour rule" with the goal of removing terrorist content on the Internet. Tech giants such as Facebook and Twitter will be fined if they fail to remove extremist content within an hour after it was detected by investigation officials of EU member countries. Details of the regulation, including the exact amount of fines will be revealed next month.

European Union Commissioner for Security Julian King told the Financial Times that the European Union had “not seen enough progress” on the removal of terrorist material from technology companies and would “take stronger action in order to better protect our citizens.”

Some say the decision by the European Union is to keep pace with the recent self-regulating efforts by EU member countries. The Financial Times quoted an EU official as saying that the European Union’s push for an EU-wide law (targeting terrorist content) reflected concerns that the all EU member nations would take unilateral action.


Gi-Jae Han record@donga.com