The European Parliaments (EU) Committee on Civil Liberties voted that all firms should get rid of terrorist content in a maximum period of one hour after receiving an order from authorities. The measures have been brought into sharper focus after the live streaming on one of Facebook’s platforms of shootings by a lone gunman, killing 50 people at two New Zealand mosques in March, Reuters reported. With 35 votes to 1 and 8 abstentions, the Civil Liberties Committee approved on Monday a draft piece of legislation to tackle hosting services being misused to publicly disseminate terrorist content online across the EU. The EU’s draft law, including fines of up to 4 percent of annual global turnover, was endorsed by member states in 2018. However, concerns that the measures would hurt smaller online platforms or encroach on civil rights had stalled Monday’s vote. This has required the approval in a plenary vote next week and negotiations among the EU’s three lawmaking bodies. For his part, Daniel Dalton, a British lawmaker who is the rapporteur for the proposal, said: "There is clearly a problem with terrorist material circulating unchecked on the internet for too long. This propaganda can be linked to actual terrorist incidents and national authorities must be able to act decisively." "Any new legislation must be practical and proportionate if we are to safeguard free speech. Without a fair process we risk the over-removal of content as businesses would understandably take a safety first approach to defend themselves," he added.