Big Tech told EU'd better patrol sites..

Firms face fines worth millions under new rules

- SEAN MURPHY

NEW rules mean Big Tech firms like Facebook and Instagram owner Meta will be required to monitor harmful social media content.

They face fines worth millions of euro for breaches.

Ireland will play a leading role in the EU’s Digital Services Act because so many of the internet giants’ European headquarters are here.

Those such as Apple, Amazon, Bing, Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, and X ( formerly Twitter) will be governed by the new EU directive that came into force yesterday.

X quit the voluntary code of practice agreement earlier this year, but pledged in June to comply with the new EU rules.

Campaigners have urged for several years that social media sites’ parent companies must be accountable for the content that is posted.

Campaigners say the European Union’s sweeping Digital Services Act (DSA)imposes unprecedented legal scrutiny on the companies as the new rules target content moderation, user privacy and transparency.

The DSA means firms can be hit with fines of up to 6 per cent of their global turnover if they are found to have violated the rules.