EU industry chief warns Alphabet CEO on tech rules compliance after Hamas attack

BRUSSELS: EU industry chief Thierry Breton on Friday warned Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai to adhere to EU tech rules after the spread of disinformation on YouTube following Hamas' attacks in Israel, the latest company to be rebuked.

Breton reminded Pichai in a letter posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, of the company's obligations set out in the Digital Services Act (DSA) which requires very large online platforms to do more to tackle harmful and illegal content.

The letter followed similar letters sent earlier this week to X owner Elon Musk, Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew but without a 24-hour deadline to take measures to counter the disinformation. False content about the Israel and Hamas conflict has proliferated on the major social media platforms over the past several days.

"I would firstly like to remind you that you have a particular obligation to protect the millions of children and teenagers using your platforms in the EU from violent content depicting hostage taking and other graphic videos," he said in the letter. Breton said his team would follow up with a specific request on a number of issues to ensure Google complies with the DSA.

According to Alphabet's YouTube, the company has quickly worked to remove harmful content after Hamas' attack and was prepared to take additional action. It has also rolled out a crisis resource panel in search with information from Israeli authorities for viewers in Israel.