Behind the European Union’s plan to rewrite the rules of online life New Atlanticist by Nick Fouriezos
A woman working on her laptop in Paris on May 26, 2020. Photo by Arnaud Finistre / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect.
With autocratic regimes more aggressively restricting freedom of speech on the internet, it is all the more important for the European Union (EU) and the United States to put forward a positive, alternative model of online regulation, said two European Commission policy officials Wednesday at the 360/Open Summit, hosted by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
Prabhat Agarwal, head of the Commission’s Digital Services and Platforms unit, and Gerard de Graaf, director for the digital transformation in the Commission’s Communications Networks, Content and Technology directorate-general, were the leading drafters of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The bill is a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive regulatory frame
Members of the European Parliament have a renewed duty to address the thorny issue of regulating social media content, in the wake of last week’s Capitol Hill riots, the chair of the Parliament’s Internal Market committee told EURACTIV.
Speaking following last week’s violent uprising in the US capital, Green MEP Anna Cavazzini said the world’s ‘eyes have been opened’ to the challenge of dealing with online disinformation and the spread of online hate.
“What we saw in Washington was horrific,” Cavazzini said. “But it’s a culmination of years of online hatred and fake news that has been built up over recent years. This is nothing new.”
EGBA hails EC push for digital standardisation
16th December 2020
| By Robin Harrison
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has hailed the European Commission’s legislative proposal for a Digital Service Act (DSA), which would standardise rules for regulating large digital platforms and allow for healthy competition across the continent.
Introduced alongside the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the DSA looks to update the EC’s eCommerce Directive, which was issued more than 20 years ago.
It aims to introduce new EU-wide rules to have illegal goods, services or content removed, as well as implementing safeguards for users whose content has been mistakenly deleted.
EGBA welcomes European Commission’s DSA proposals Share
European Commission’s proposals for a
Digital Services Act (DSA).
The publication of the proposals follows on from the Commission’s calls for ‘an ambitious reform of the digital space’.
The long-awaited legislative proposal, which will support the
Digital Markets Act, will introduce rules for regulating large digital platforms, as well as ensuring that ‘markets impacted by digital gatekeepers remain fair and competitive’.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, commented: “The two proposals serve one purpose: to make sure that we, as users, have access to a wide choice of safe products and services online.