X and TikTok told by EU to 'step up' countering hate speech and Israel-Hamas disinformation

• TikTok's CEO and an X executive met with the European Commission's Věra Jourová on Tuesday.
• She said they both need to "step up" their efforts to counter hate speech.

TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, need to "step up" their efforts countering hate speech, a European Commission vice president said.

Věra Jourová, the vice president responsible for the digital economy, met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Nick Pickles, X's head of global government affairs, on Tuesday.

In posts on X, Jourová said the meetings were constructive but pointed out areas of improvement, adding that X needs to do more to comply with the Digital Services Act.

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That's a major piece of European Union legislation that took effect in August, and establishes requirements for social media companies to monitor and flag disinformation.

As well as hate speech, Jourová raised concerns about the platforms hosting pro-Hamas content in the wake of its attacks on Israel in October. Like the US, the EU recognizes Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The Israel-Hamas war has opened further scrutiny of the social media companies, with widespread instances of disinformation.

This video falsely claims to show an IDF soldier demonstrate "Hamas's tunnel network in Gaza".

In fact, the video is an ad for an airsoft game club in Israel that was posted to TikTok in September, fact-checked by @talhagin. pic.twitter.com/OwJkmpdEUg

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) November 8, 2023

Jourová also criticized X for having an insufficient number of staff speaking some European languages, which would help counter disinformation. And she said the company lacked preparation for next year's EU elections.

X shut down its office in Brussels, the EU's capital, which was responsible for complying with the bloc's laws, a month after Elon Musk took over last year.

In a statement shared with Insider, Theo Bertram, TikTok Vice President for Public Policy in Europe, said: "We are grateful to Commissioners Breton, Reynders and Jourova for their time and the chance to update them on all TikTok is doing to keep people safe on our platform."

"We had very constructive discussions on key issues including minor safety and countering hate speech and are pleased that the work we are doing to comply with EU regulation is being recognised. We were also able to set out the latest progress on Project Clover, which is setting new standards for data security in Europe."

X did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.