Civil rights groups urge EU lawmakers to rebuff online terrorist content law

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU lawmakers should reject a proposed law that forces Google, Facebook and Twitter to remove terrorist content within an hour of publication because of the risks to fundamental rights, 61 civil rights groups said on Thursday.

The European Commission drafted the legislation in 2018 after a spate of attacks by radicalised lone-wolf attackers in several European cities, with online terrorist content seen as one of the contributing factors.