Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

Google, Twitter and Facebook face fines of 6pc of turnover over hate speech and disinformation after landmark EU deal

Google, Twitter and Facebook face fines of 6pc of turnover over hate speech and disinformation after landmark EU deal

Tech companies will be charged a "supervisory fee", which could be up to 0.1pc of their annual global net income, to fund the system

The European Union has reached a landmark deal to take aim at hate speech, disinformation and other harmful content online.

The move would force big tech companies to police themselves harder, make it easier for users to flag problems and empower regulators to punish non-compliance with billions in fines.

EU officials finally clinched the agreement in principle in the early hours of Saturday over the final details of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which will overhaul the digital rulebook for 27 countries and cement Europe's reputation as the global leader in reining in the power of social media companies and other digital platforms, such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said: "With the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are 'too big to care' is coming to an end."

EU Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager added that "with today's agreement we ensure that platforms are held accountable for the risks their services can pose to society and citizens".

The act is the EU's third significant law targeting the tech industry, a notable contrast with the US, where lobbyists representing Silicon Valley's interests have largely succeeded in keeping federal legislators at bay.

While the US justice department and federal trade commission have filed major antitrust actions against Google and Facebook, US congress remains politically divided on efforts to address competition, online privacy, disinformation and more.

The EU's new rules, which are designed to protect internet users and their "fundamental rights online", should make tech companies more accountable for content created by users and amplified by their platforms' algorithms.

Mr Breton said the EU will have plenty of power to back up the laws.

"It entrusts the Commission with supervising very large platforms, including the possibility to impose effective and dissuasive sanctions of up to 6pc of global turnover or even a ban on operating in the EU single market in case of repeated serious breaches," he said.

The tentative agreement was reached between the EU parliament and member states. It still needs to be officially rubber-stamped by those institutions but should pose no political problem.

Ben Scott, a former tech policy advisor to Hillary Clinton who is now executive director of advocacy group Reset, said: "The DSA is nothing short of a paradigm shift in tech regulation. It's the first major attempt to set rules and standards for algorithmic systems in digital media markets."

Negotiators had been hoping to hammer out a deal before French elections on Sunday. A new French government could stake out different positions on digital content.

The need to regulate Big Tech more effectively came into sharper focus after the 2016 US presidential election, when Russia was found to have used social media platforms to try to influence the country's vote.

Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter promised to crack down on disinformation, but the problems have only worsened.

During the pandemic, health misinformation blossomed and again the companies were slow to act, cracking down after years of allowing anti-vaccine falsehoods to thrive on their platforms.

Under the EU law, governments would be able to request companies take down a wide range of content that would be deemed illegal, including material that promotes terrorism, child sexual abuse, hate speech and commercial scams.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter would have to give users tools to flag such content in an "easy and effective way" so that it can be swiftly removed.

Online marketplaces like Amazon would have to do the same for dodgy products, such as counterfeit trainers or unsafe toys.

These systems will be standardised so that they will work the same way on any online platform.

The tech giants have been lobbying furiously in Brussels to water down the EU rules.

Twitter said it would review the rules "in detail", and pledged support for "smart, forward-thinking regulation that balances the need to tackle online harm with protecting the Open Internet".

Google said on Friday that it looks forward to "working with policymakers to get the remaining technical details right to ensure the law works for everyone".

Amazon referred to a blog post from last year that said it welcomed measures that enhance trust in online services.

Facebook did not respond to requests for comment.

The Digital Services Act would ban ads targeted at minors, as well as ads targeted at users based on their gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

It would also ban deceptive techniques companies use to nudge people into doing things they did not intend to, such as signing up for services that are easy to opt into, but hard to decline.

To show they are making progress on limiting these practices, tech companies would have to carry out annual risk assessments of their platforms.

Up until now, regulators have had no access to the inner workings at Google, Facebook and other popular services. But under the new law, the companies will have to be more transparent and provide information to regulators and independent researchers on content-moderation efforts.

This could mean, for example, making YouTube turn over data on whether its recommendation algorithm has been directing users to more Russian propaganda than normal.

To enforce the new rules, the European Commission is expected to hire more than 200 new staffers.

To pay for it, tech companies will be charged a "supervisory fee", which could be up to 0.1pc of their annual global net income, depending on the negotiations.

Experts said the new rules will likely spark copycat regulatory efforts by governments in other countries, while tech companies will also face pressure to roll out the rules beyond the EU's borders.

"If Joe Biden stands at the podium and says: 'By golly, why don't American consumers deserve the same protections that Google and Facebook are giving to Europe consumers?' it's going to be difficult for those companies to deny the application of the same rules" elsewhere, Mr Scott said.

But the companies are not likely to do so voluntarily, said Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank.

He said there is just too much money on the line if a company like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is restricted in how it can target advertising at specific groups of users.

"The big tech firms will heavily resist other countries adopting similar rules, and I cannot imagine the firms voluntarily applying these rules outside the EU," Mr Meyers said.

The EU reached a separate agreement last month on its so-called Digital Markets Act, a law aimed at reining in the market power of tech giants and making them treat smaller rivals fairly.

And in 2018, the EU's General Data Protection Regulation set the global standard for data privacy protection, though it has faced criticism for not being effective at changing the behaviour of tech companies.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
×