Analysis - DSA Observatory

The Digital Services Act & the implications for the safety of journalists (Part 2)

October 27, 2022/in Analysis

In this second part of the blog post on the implications of the DSA on journalism, we look into the safety of journalists and other media actors. Online harassment of journalists is a widely-reported topic, but nevertheless still increasing problem. What DSA provisions are the most promising for ensuring and increasing that much-needed safe climate for journalism online? And what actors, beside online platforms, can play their part using some of the DSA provisions to benefit journalism?

Average monthly active recipients in the DSA: definition, grey areas, and how to calculate?

October 10, 2022/in Analysis

The Digital Services Act designates VLOPs and VLOSEs based on their number of ‘average monthly active recipients’. How can and should online platforms calculate their number of ‘AMARs’? What role will embedded content and auto-completed search results play? And will the discounting of bots, scrapers and ‘double’ visitors lead to extra tracking of platforms’ recipients? This blog dives deep into the concept of average monthly active recipients.

Twitter Alludes to Implementing Article 40, DSA (Data Access & Scrutiny)

September 29, 2022/in Analysis

Twitter’s ‘Moderation Research Consortium’ now accepts applications by all interested researchers. DSA Observatory Researcher Pim ten Thije looks into the TMRC’s compliance with Article 40 of the Digital Services Act on data access and scrutiny. He recaps the DSA’s access obligations for researchers and governments and discusses what Twitter will need to change to be compliant.

The Digital Services Act and the Implications for News Media and Journalistic Content (Part 1)

September 29, 2022/in Analysis

This blog post looks into the implications of the DSA on the media, in specific: protection of journalistic and media content under the DSA. What (procedural) rights can be used by journalists to protect their content online? And what are the platforms’ obligations to protect media freedom and freedom of expression?

Empirical research in Content Moderation and Access to Justice: do the remedies fit the harms?

September 27, 2022/in Analysis

The results of this empirical survey suggest that the available remedies in the Netherlands offer insufficient access to justice for the online harm people experience.

Council of Europe guidelines on managing the impact of digital technologies on freedom of expression complement the DSA

September 23, 2022/in Analysis

Prof. Natali Helberger published a blog post on the Media@LSE blog titled: How Council of Europe guidelines on managing the impact of digital technologies on freedom of expression complement the DSA. Read on for a short introduction and more.

The Digital Services Act: Adoption, Entry into Force and Application Dates

September 12, 2022/in Analysis

DSA Observatory Researcher Pim ten Thije clarifies the DSA’s adoption, entry into force and application dates. When will the new far-reaching obligations apply to (very large) online platforms, when will national regulators be required to be in place, when will the European Commission assume its new regulatory powers, and when exactly will the DSA be the law of the European Union?

The Council of the European Union’s ban of Russian media outlets: possible implications for the DSA

September 5, 2022/in Analysis

Prof. Natali Helberger, a contributor to the DSA Observatory and Prof. Wolfgang Schulz of the Hans-Bredow Institute, Hamburg published a blog post on the Media@LSE blog titled: Understandable, but still wrong: How freedom of communication suffers in the zeal for sanctions. The authors discuss the ban of Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik by the Council […]

The DSA supervision and enforcement architecture

June 24, 2022/in Analysis

Ilaria Buri and Joris van Hoboken Introduction The supervision and enforcement structure of the DSA proposal has been described from the beginning as a strong one. Elements which contribute to strengthening the enforcement chapter include the involvement of the European Commission in enforcing the rules vis à vis the very large online platforms (VLOPs) and […]

European Lessons in Self-Experimentation: From the GDPR to European Platform Regulation

June 22, 2022/in Analysis

DSA Observatory’s Joris van Hoboken wrote a new essay for the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), “European Lessons in Self-Experimentation: From the GDPR to European Platform Regulation”. The essay is part of The Four Domains of Global Platform Governance, an essay series that examines platform governance from four distinct policy angles: content, data, competition […]