EDRi-gram, 2 April 2025

What has the EDRis network been up to over the past two weeks? Find out the latest digital rights news in our bi-weekly newsletter. In this edition: DSA complaint X, New civic coalition for journalists and civil society, imagining EU-topia, & more!

By EDRi · April 2, 2025

Dear supporters,

Spring has announced its arrival in Brussels. Along with warmer days, we’re also expecting a flurry of activities and decisions from the European Commission on EU’s platform rules in the coming week.

If you needed further confirmation that laws like the Digital Services Act (DSA) can be a powerful tool to reign in tech giants, we have a success story to share. Two weeks ago, we filed a formal complaint against X under the DSA, together with our member ApTI. This came a few weeks after we had directly reached out to inform X that they were likely breaching their obligations towards Trusted Flaggers. While the direct outreach seemed to not have led to any results, a few hours after filing the complaint in Ireland and sharing about it on social media and on our website, we found that – lo and behold – the previously faulty online forms misleading Trusted Flaggers had started being updated.

Some more positive news – together with our member European Center for Not-for-Profit Law and the not-for-profit collaborative newsroom organisation Lighthouse Reports, we have launched the Civic Journalism Coalition to strengthen our digital rights through engaged journalism. Even more exciting – we are able to provide collaboration grants to journalists and civil society for investigations focused on digital rights violations. Deadline for applying to the grant is April 17.

Last year, on April 1, we brought you the April Fools special edition of the EDRigram with satirical articles and funny, albeit dystopian, scenarios. This year, the state of the world feels more bleak than ever, and dystopian scenarios seem closer and more unnerving. This year, we are acknowledging our sobering reality, offering our solidarity to affected communities, but also indulging in utopian imagination. Come indulge with us.

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