The EU on Wednesday (September 12th) proposed steps to force social networks and websites to remove terrorist propaganda within an hour of receiving the order from authorities, or face massive fines, AFP reported.
The legislation proposed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker marks a toughening approach after Brussels had relied on internet firms to voluntarily remove such content.
The internet has become a major tool for extremists carrying out attacks that have killed hundreds of people in European cities in recent years.
"Europeans rightly expect their Union to keep them safe," Juncker told the European Parliament in his annual state of the union speech.
"This is why the commission is today proposing new rules to get terrorist content off the web within one hour –- the critical window in which the greatest damage is done."
The EU's executive arm said that in January alone, nearly 7,000 new pieces of propaganda disseminated online were from the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), even as it has been driven out of most of Iraq and Syria.
The commission proposal calls for a "legally binding one-hour deadline" for firms to remove terrorist content once national authorities order them to do so.
The EU joined forces with US-based tech firms in 2016 to combat online extremism.
"While we have made progress on removing terrorist content online through voluntary efforts, it has not been enough," EU Security Commissioner Julian King said in a statement.
"We need to prevent it from being uploaded and, where it does appear, ensure it is taken down as quickly as possible –- before it can do serious damage."
