TikTok and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, have received a formal ultimatum from the European Union (EU) regarding their role in combatting disinformation related to the Israel-Gaza conflict on their platforms.

Previously, the EU had requested answers from these tech giants within 24 hours, but that request didn’t carry any legal weight. However, this new demand has more significant consequences.

Both companies now have one week to provide a satisfactory response. Under the EU’s newly established tech regulations, the EU can launch a formal investigation if they are not satisfied with the companies’ answers.

The EU is particularly concerned about the possible spread of terrorist and violent content, as well as hate speech, following the conflict involving Hamas and Israel.

TikTok responded, saying, “We’ll publish our first transparency report under the new law next week, where we’ll include more information about our ongoing work to keep our European community safe.“

A spokesperson from Meta stated, “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’re happy to provide further details of this work, beyond what we have already shared, and will respond to the European Commission.“

The EU’s latest demand follows a similar request made to X (formerly known as Twitter) just a week ago. X confirmed at the time that they had removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts from their platform.

Social media companies have been dealing with a surge of disinformation regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, including doctored images and mislabeled videos.

The CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, and Google each received letters from EU Commissioner Thierry Breton earlier in October, giving them 24 hours to respond. However, these initial letters were not legally binding.

Now, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), these companies must meet the specified deadlines. Failure to comply with the DSA can result in fines of up to 6% of the company’s global turnover or even the suspension of the platform.

The EU has set two deadlines for Meta and TikTok in this formal process under the DSA. First, they must provide information on “the crisis response” by October 25. Additionally, they must respond to questions regarding the protection of election integrity by November 8. TikTok has an extra task, which is to inform the European Commission about how it is protecting minors online by the November deadline.

When the social media companies were previously asked for more information, Mr. Breton emphasized that Meta must prove it had taken “timely, diligent, and objective action,” while he added that TikTok has a particular obligation to protect children and teenagers from violent content and terrorist propaganda.