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EU Demands Meta, TikTok Detail Efforts to Curb Disinformation from Israel-Hamas War

(FILES) This picture taken on April 26, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France, shows a screen displaying the Tiktok social media platform's logo and the European flag. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
(FILES) This picture taken on April 26, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France, shows a screen displaying the Tiktok social media platform's logo and the European flag. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
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EU Demands Meta, TikTok Detail Efforts to Curb Disinformation from Israel-Hamas War

(FILES) This picture taken on April 26, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France, shows a screen displaying the Tiktok social media platform's logo and the European flag. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
(FILES) This picture taken on April 26, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France, shows a screen displaying the Tiktok social media platform's logo and the European flag. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)

The European Union on Thursday demanded Meta and TikTok detail their efforts to curb illegal content and disinformation during the Israel-Hamas war, flexing the power of a new law that threatens billions in fines if tech giants fail to do enough to protect users.
The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's executive branch, formally requested that the social media companies provide information on how they're complying with pioneering digital rules aimed at cleaning up online platforms, The Associated Press reported.
The commission asked Meta and TikTok to explain the measures they have taken to reduce the risk of spreading and amplifying terrorist and violent content, hate speech and disinformation.
It's the prelude to a possible crackdown under the new digital rules, which took effect in August and have made the EU a global leader in reining in Big Tech. The biggest platforms face extra obligations to stop a wide range of illegal content from flourishing or face the threat of fines of up to 6% of annual global revenue.
The new rules, known as the Digital Services Act, are being put to the test by the Israel-Hamas war. Photos and videos have flooded social media of the carnage alongside posts from users pushing false claims and misrepresenting videos from other events.
Brussels issued its first formal request under the DSA last week to Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton, the bloc's digital enforcer, had previously sent warning letters to the three platforms, as well as YouTube, highlighting the risks that the war poses.

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World

Iran Hangs Man Accused of Passing info to CIA, Mossad

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Hangs Man Accused of Passing info to CIA, Mossad

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran said Monday it had hanged a man convicted of spying for Israel and the United States, the latest in a wave of executions during the war with the two foes.

"Erfan Shakourzadeh... was hanged for collaborating with the US intelligence service and the Mossad spy service," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

It did not specify when he was executed or when he was arrested, but said he worked at one of Iran's "scientific organizations active in the satellite field".

Iran has long faced Western accusations that its satellite program is being used to advance ballistic missile capabilities, reported AFP.

Mizan said Shakourzadeh had "knowingly and willingly" passed classified information to the CIA and Mossad.

Iran is the world's second-most prolific executioner, according to rights groups.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights says the Iranian republic executed at least 1,500 people last year, one of the highest numbers worldwide.

Iran has been at war with Israel and the United States since late February, with a ceasefire in place since April 8.

Since the start of the conflict, Iran has ramped up executions, particularly in cases involving alleged espionage or security-related charges.

Last Monday, Tehran executed three men convicted of involvement in anti-government protests that rocked the country in December and January.

World

Australia to Quarantine Six People from Hantavirus Ship

Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
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Australia to Quarantine Six People from Hantavirus Ship

Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Australia will place six people from a cruise ship struck with the rat-borne hantavirus in a purpose-built quarantine facility north of Perth for at least three weeks, the government said Monday.

The passengers -- four Australian citizens, one permanent resident in Australia and a New Zealander -- are to be kept at Western Australia's 500-bed Bullsbrook center, originally built for the Covid-19 pandemic, said AFP.

Repatriation flights from Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands are still being finalized in a "complex" operation, Health Minister Mark Butler told a news conference.

Australia will list the hantavirus disease under the country's biosecurity legislation, enabling the government to make an order placing the passengers in quarantine, he said.

The six passengers -- none of whom have shown hantavirus symptoms -- will land at an airforce base by the quarantine facility, the minister said.

"Those six people will be transferred immediately to that quarantine facility directly next door to the RAAF base," Butler said.

Butler said the incubation period for the virus was 42 days, and arrangements after the initial three weeks' quarantine had yet to be decided.

Some other countries were only quarantining people from the ship for a few days before telling them to isolate at home, the minister said.

But Australia was implementing a "stronger response" because the long flight from Tenerife in a relatively small plane posed a greater risk of transmission.

World

Kallas: EU Expected to Agree Long-stalled Sanctions on Israeli Settlers

A view of the new Jewish settlers’ outpost erected on the outskirts of the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
A view of the new Jewish settlers’ outpost erected on the outskirts of the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
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Kallas: EU Expected to Agree Long-stalled Sanctions on Israeli Settlers

A view of the new Jewish settlers’ outpost erected on the outskirts of the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
A view of the new Jewish settlers’ outpost erected on the outskirts of the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

The European Union was expected Monday to agree new sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians, the bloc's top diplomat said, as a change of government in Hungary ends months of blockage.

"I expect political agreement on the sanctions on violent settlers, hopefully we will get there," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.

The move in response to rising violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had been stalled by former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban.

But nationalist leader and Israel ally's ouster by rival Peter Magyar now appears to have paved the way for the veto to be lifted.

EU officials said seven settlers or settler organizations were set to be blacklisted. The bloc was also set to sanction representatives from Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, involving both Israeli troops and settlers.

There has been a surge in deadly attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Iran war on February 28, Palestinian officials and the United Nations have said.

While the EU is moving ahead with the sanctions on Israeli settlers, there remains no consensus among the bloc's member states to take further steps against Israel such as curbing trade ties.