The European Commission proposed rules on terrorist content online

The European Commission proposed new rules to help ensure terrorist content online is swiftly removed. Terrorist content was defined as material that incites or advocates committing terrorist offences, promotes the activities of a terrorist group or provides instruction in techniques for committing terrorist offences. The new rules state that after national competent authorities issue a removal order, terrorist content must be taken down in one hour. All platforms have a duty of obligation to ensure they are not misused for the dissemination of terrorist content online. Service providers will also be required to take proactive measures to protect their platforms and users from terrorist abuse. Another obligation of service providers but also Member States will be to designate points of contact reachable 24/7 to facilitate the follow up to removal orders and referrals. Service providers and Member States will provide annual reports on how terrorist content was tackled and regular reports on proactive measures taken, in order to achieve transparency and oversight. If content was removed unjustifiably, the service provider will be required to reinstate it as soon as possible. However, service providers will also be able to challenge a removal order. Should service providers systematically fail to remove terrorist content following removal orders, they could face financial penalties of up to 4% of their global turnover for the last business year.