EU push to move faster against online extremism

European Union ministers have said the bloc must urgently adopt new laws to allow the faster removal of extremist content from social media networks.

The fight against extremism was top of the agenda in a virtual meeting of EU interior ministers as the need for internet regulation was given new urgency following recent terror attacks in Paris, Nice and Vienna.

Ministers said the EU needs regulations that will oblige internet companies to remove extremist propaganda within an hour of it being reported. They also urged more data-sharing and more systematic border checks.

In a joint statement, the ministers agreed to finalize negotiations on laws for removing terrorist content by the end of the year.

"We reaffirm our determination to do everything in our power to counter this barbaric terror holistically, with all the instruments at our disposal, while fully maintaining all guarantees under the rule of law as well as fundamental freedoms," they said.

Both German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson called for an agreement by Christmas on the new "regulation on terrorist content online (TCO)".

The push came after France and Germany last week pledged efforts to fight extremism, and called for a reform of the Schengen Area and for measures against foreign fighters.

France has again declared its highest terror alert level, following attacks in Paris and Nice last month. On Nov 2, an attacker shot and killed four people and wounded more than 20 others in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Austrian authorities found intelligence lapses allowed the Vienna gunman, identified as a dual Austrian-North Macedonian national, to slip under the police radar, despite him having served jail time for seeking to join extremists in Syria.

Johansson said immigration and terrorism must be treated separately, but the statement said there must be tighter controls on the EU's external borders, so that terror suspects could be tracked more systematically.