MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU warns Zuckerberg and Musk over the spread of disinformation on the Hamas/Israel conflict

Breton sent a letter to Musk saying that instances of “fake and manipulated images and facts of violent and terrorist content” were widely reported were widely reported on the social media platform X

The European Union has warned Mark Zuckerberg over the spread of “disinformation” on Meta's social media platforms after Hamas' attack on Israel. It told Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, that it “has 24 hours” to respond and comply with European law.

Social media firms have seen a surge in misinformation about the conflict, including doctored images and mislabeled videos. On Tuesday the EU warned X, formerly known as Twitter, about such content.

The bloc's industry chief, Thierry Breton, told Meta it must prove it has taken “timely, diligent and objective action”.

In a letter, he said the firm had 24 hours to tell him about the “proportionate and effective” measures it had taken to counter the spread of disinformation on its platforms.

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC: “After the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, we quickly established a special operations centre staffed with experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers, to closely monitor and respond to this rapidly evolving situation.”

“Our teams are working around the clock to keep our platforms safe, take action on content that violates our policies or local law, and coordinate with third-party fact checkers in the region to limit the spread of misinformation. We'll continue this work as this conflict unfolds.”

The European Commission meanwhile reminded all social media companies that they are legally required to prevent the spread of harmful content related to Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is a proscribed terrorist group in the EU.

On Tuesday, Mr Breton wrote in a letter to Mr Musk that “violent and terrorist content” had not been taken down from X, despite warnings. Mr Musk said his company had taken action, including by removing newly-created Hamas-affiliated accounts. He asked the EU to list the alleged violations.

Mr Breton did not give details on the disinformation he was referring to in his letter to Mr Musk. However, he said that instances of “fake and manipulated images and facts” were widely reported on the social media platform.

“I therefore invite you to urgently ensure that your systems are effective, and report on the crisis measures taken to my team,” he wrote in his letter which he shared on social media.