EDRi-gram, 28 May 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: Reopening the GDPR is a threat to our rights, 6 years of fighting censorship by Meta in Poland, & more!

By EDRi · May 28, 2025

Dear supporters,

The EU’s landmark data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is having its moment in the spotlight – but not for reasons that should make us happy. Last week, the European Commission announced plans to ‘simplify’ GDPR rules for companies, and a new Single Market Strategy that includes undoing EU laws. This simplification push is deeply worrying to us, and to over 110 other civil society organisations, trade unions, companies and experts who signed our open letter to the Commission, warning them about the risks. You can read our open letter in this edition, and more about what’s at stake with the proposed GDPR changes in our recommended read.

The GDPR simplification follows the razing of environmental and human rights protections through the first two simplification omnibuses announced earlier this year. This is all a part of the EU’s aggressive deregulation push that we’re keeping a close eye on and resisting with all our might.

In this EDRigram, you can also read about national updates on digital rights. Sweden has chosen to crack down on sex workers, expanding criminalisation and surveillance, despite widespread criticism. Hungary’s new laws that bans Pride events and allows the use of facial recognition software to identify protestors is on our radar too – read our collective analysis about how it violates the EU AI Act. EDRi member Politiscope are playing their part in helping to prepare Croatia for its national AI law. In Poland, the user empowerment promised by the DSA seems elusive as a case of arbitrary censorship by Meta drags on six years later. Read more from our member Panoptykon, who have been supporting this legal battle.

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