Embedded GenAI on Social Media: Platform Law Meets AI law

by Paddy Leerssen, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam 6 August 2024 Social media platforms are integrating generative AI features into their services. This post discusses how these features trigger overlapping obligations under the AI Act and the Digital Services Act.     On 26 September 2024, Instagram and Facebook rolled out a new […]

The DSA’s first shadow banning case

by Paddy Leerssen, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam 6 August 2024 This post discusses a recent decision from the Amsterdam District Court, in which an end-user of X was awarded damages due to the platform’s undisclosed ‘shadow banning’ of their profile.     An early victory for user rights: on 5 July 2024, […]

What do we talk about when we talk about risk? Risk politics in the EU’s Digital Services Act

by Rachel Griffin, doctoral candidate at SciencesPo 31 July 2024   What are the implications of framing normative and political questions about platform governance in terms of ‘risks’ to be managed through technocratic expertise? This article suggests that the DSA’s system of risk management obligations for the largest platforms ignores the essentially political and contestable […]

The DSA, disinformation and European elections: solutions through recommender systems?

The EU elections are a week behind us and we are amidst analysis of the voting results. Prior to the elections, two MEPs worried about disinformation affecting the elections. They proposed that VLOPs turn off personalised recommender systems and to explicitly stop recommender systems based on interaction. They continue by proposing four ways in which the DSA could be used to reach those goals. This blog post discusses these four proposed ways and compares the proposal to the current relevant EU policies in place.

This blog post discusses four ways to deploy the DSA as was proposed by 2 MEPs ahead of the EU elections around disinformation.

An early win for the transparency measures of the DSA. A comment on Amazon Services v. European Commission (C-638/23)

Beatriz Botero Arcila Assistant Professor of Law at Sciences Po Law School & Faculty Associate, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University   Early in April the European Court of Justice delivered an important decision regarding the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA).[1]  Affirming the DSA’s objective of enhancing transparency and […]

More than an advisory group: why The European Board for Digital Services has key roles in DSA enforcement

Julian Jaursch Two days after the Digital Services Act (DSA) became applicable in its entirety across the EU, a new group of regulators introduced by the DSA met for the first time: On February 19, 2024, the European Board for Digital Services (“the Board”) had its inaugural meeting in Brussels. While it is billed merely […]

Practical Considerations for Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement (ODS) under Article 21 of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA)

Thomas Hughes Thomas Hughes is the Director of the Oversight Board Administration. This article is written in a personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Oversight Board.   Out-of-court dispute settlement bodies (ODS) have the potential to be an important pillar of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). As proposed in […]

Report on Expert Workshop – Navigating the DSA’s procedural turn: lessons from consumer law for ODR

Expert workshop 1 December 2023, 14:00 – 17:30 (CET), University of Amsterdam   Written by Kirsten Meiring, Anna van Duin & Paddy Leerssen Introduction On 1 December 2023, the DSA Observatory’s Anna van Duin and Paddy Leerssen organised an expert workshop on out-of-court dispute settlement (ODS) under Article 21 of the DSA. This report provides […]

Consumer ODR – Redefining pathways to dispute settlement in a post-consumer society

Vanessa Mak   On 1 December 2023, Anna van Duin and Paddy Leerssen organized an expert workshop at the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law (IViR) to discuss consumer dispute resolution in light of the new rules for online dispute resolution (ODR) laid down in Art. 20 and 21 of the Digital Services Act […]

DSA Audits: Procedural Rules Leave Some Uncertainties

Anna Morandini (PhD candidate at the European University Institute)   Auditors hold significant power in reviewing the DSA compliance of very large online platforms and search engines (‘VLOPs’ and ‘VLOSEs’). Their role includes evaluating platform policies on systemic risk management. In October, the Commission adopted the delegated regulation on the performance of DSA audits (‘DRA’) […]