EU to tech companies: you have one hour to remove terrorist content

When it comes to dangerous content online, the European Union is not messing around.

Per a new set of guidelines announced by the European Union on Thursday, tech companies including Google, Facebook, and Twitter will have just one hour to remove "terror" content that's been flagged by EU authorities as illegal.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the guidelines are actually a pre-emptive response to rattling from some European nations to make technology companies legally liable for illegal content that appears on their platforms.

The commission defines the content that companies have an obligation to speedily scrub as "all forms of illegal content ranging from terrorist content, incitement to hatred and violence, child sexual abuse material, counterfeit products and copyright infringement."

They also state that the first hour in which a piece of this illegal content is up is the time in which it does the most damage. The one-hour guideline is designed to mitigate its spreading.

"Online platforms are becoming people's main gateway to information, so they have a responsibility to provide a secure environment for their users. What is illegal offline is also illegal online," Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said in the EU's statement. "While several platforms have been removing more illegal content than ever before – showing that self-regulation can work – we still need to react faster against terrorist propaganda and other illegal content which is a serious threat to our citizens' security, safety and fundamental rights."

The commission is recommending that tech companies take "proactive" measures to detect and remove harmful content. It suggests a mix of automated detection, with strong human oversight to ensure both compliance, and that content isn't being unnecessarily removed.

Facebook, Google, and Twitter have already taken measures to purge this content. In December 2016, the three companies teamed up to collaborate on a shared database of the content and posters of terrorist content. In June 2017, Facebook shed light on its efforts to use artificial intelligence to quickly identify, flag, and remove terrorist content.

But clearly, the EU wants these companies to step up their game. Thursday's announcement merely outlined "guidelines" — the one-hour ultimatum is not yet law. Yet being the operative word.