
The Digital Services Act (DSA) Observatory
The “Digital Services Act (DSA) Observatory” is a project run by the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam, which acts as a hub of expertise on the new EU Digital Services Act Regulation.
The DSA Observatory provides independent scholarly input and facilitates discussions regarding this important legislation, its implementation and enforcement. In particular, the DSA Observatory focuses on fundamental rights and democratic values as a means to confront platform power.
Launched in January 2021, the Observatory has followed the DSA political process closely. It engages with different stakeholders and brings together a broad network of platform regulation experts from academia, civil society, and government.
The project generates regular analysis on the DSA and relevant developments, including blog posts, policy reports, academic articles, and events including expert workshops, panels and conferences.
About The Digital Services Act (DSA) Observatory
The DSA Observatory
The Digital Services Act (DSA) Observatory is a new project run by the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam, which kicked-off in January 2021. The DSA Observatory acts as a hub of expertise with respect to the “Digital Services Act” package presented by the European Commission in December 2020.
Project team
The core project team for the DSA Observatory is composed of prof. Joris van Hoboken, Ilaria Buri, Paddy Leerssen, dr. Ronan Fahy, prof. Natali Helberger, prof. Martin Senftleben, dr. João Pedro Quintais and Doris Buijs.
Funding and collaboration with the Digital Legal Lab
The DSA Observatory is part of the “Digital Transformations of Decision-Making” research initiative of the Amsterdam Law School and contributes to the activities of the Digital Legal Lab, an interuniversity research centre on law and digital technologies run by a research network between four Dutch universities: Tilburg University, the University of Amsterdam, Radboud University Nijmegen and Maastricht University. This joint research initiative, the Digital Legal Studies Sector Plan for legal research is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The DSA Observatory was launched thanks to the funding of the Open Society Foundations.
Where we focus on …
Europe / Brussels
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Justice
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Privacy
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Politics
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Research
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People
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Contact
The DSA Observatory team can be reached by email at:
Counting the days: what to expect from risk assessments and audits under the DSA – and when?
/in AnalysisPaddy Leerssen The DSA’s most demanding rules are directed at the largest platforms: Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs). This blog post offers a quick overview on two of the most important obligations for these large services, with more than 45 million monthly average active users: risk management, and […]
Using Terms and Conditions to Apply Fundamental Rights to Content Moderation
/in AnalysisDSA Observatory – IViR’s researchers João Pedro Quintais, Naomi Appelman and Ronan Fahy published a new article “Using Terms and Conditions to Apply Fundamental Rights to Content Moderation” (forthcoming in German Law Journal). In this article, they critically explore questions around the enforceability of fundamental rights via T&Cs through the prism of Article 14 DSA. […]
Article 17 Media Freedom Act & the Digital Services Act: aligned or alienated?
/in AnalysisAfter almost two years, the DSA has entered into force. In the mean time, a new legislative proposal has been published by the Commission in September 2022: the Media Freedom Act (MFA). Both regulations caused a lot of debate, about – among other things – the so-called “media exemption”. This media exemption could give media a special position, as they would get prior notice from platforms before content moderation decisions. The exemption did not make it into the DSA, but the debate around the exemption has been revitalized with the newly proposed Article 17 MFA, which seems similar to the earlier discussed exemption. In this blog post, we will look into how the MFA tries to define “media service providers”, what Article 17 MFA actually entails and if the critical commenters calling Article 17 MFA the new media exemption can be justified. We will see that this discussion is a bit more complex, mainly due to the complicated interplay between the MFA and the Platform to Business (P2B) Regulation.