DSA
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Digital Services Act: EU Parliament’s key committee rejects a filternet but concerns remain
The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) is a big deal. It's the most significant reform of Europe’s internet platform legislation in twenty years and the EU Commission has proposed multiple new rules to address the challenges brought by the increased use of services online. EU members of Parliament (MEPs) showed that they listened to civil society voices: Even though the key committee on internal market affairs (IMCO) did not follow the footsteps of the ambitious DSA reports from last year, MEPs took a stance for the protection of fundamental rights.
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Has the Parliament effectively wielded the Digital Services Act to challenge platform power? The verdict is, somewhat.
Today, the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) has approved its much-anticipated report on the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA affects how intermediaries like Google and Amazon regulate and influence user activity on their platforms, including people's ability to exercise their rights and freedoms online. The DSA also aims at limiting the negative impact of the most powerful online platforms on people and puts limits on how EU Member States can interfere with people’s free expression online.
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PlatformPower.eu
Imagine we live in a world where online platforms enable you to change society, are following your choices for online experience and are accountable to society about how their negative effect on society should be tackled.
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What you need to know about the Facebook Papers
Facebook is now undergoing what may be the tech giant’s biggest crisis in its 17-year history. In October, The Washington Post reported that a second Facebook whistleblower came forward to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that the company prioritises growth over combating hate speech, disinformation, and other threats to the public. The whistleblower’s testimony follows that of former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, whose legal counsel released what’s known as the Facebook Papers — a 10,000-page collection of internal reports, memos, and chat logs leaked to more than a dozen major news outlets.
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Big-tech lobby sets the rules about big-tech in Europe
The dominance of Google and Facebook is disastrous for the public debate online. We've been saying this for a long time. But this dominance can also be felt in the regulation of the same platforms. Huge amounts of money are spent by big tech to influence European laws and regulations.
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Platform Regulation: Key takeways from Haugen’s hearing
On 8 November 2021, Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower, participated in a hearing of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO). While her testimony brought extremely important insights into Facebook’s opaque operations, it also showed that Haugen’s thinking of what the digital world in Europe should look like is influenced by her expertise in data science rather than public policy, as well as by her professional experience working with Silicon Valley’s centralised mega-platforms.
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European Parliament’s plans of a Digital Services Act threaten internet freedoms
The EU's Digital Services Act is a chance to preserve what works and to fix what is broken. EFF and other civil society groups have advocated for new rules that protect fundamental rights online, while formulating a bold vision to address today's most pressing challenges. However, while the initial proposal by the EU Commission got several things right, the EU Parliament is toying with the idea of introducing a new filternet, made in Europe. Some politicians believe that any active platform should potentially be held liable for the communications of its users and they trust that algorithmic filters can do the trick to swiftly remove illegal content
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Disinformation and propaganda: It’s all political!
The disinformation and propaganda campaigns in the European Union (EU) are inexplicably tied to the political parties that misuse the tools of mass media communications to spread fear and deceit (Euractiv, 2021). The media exemption currently debated within the scope of the Digital Services Act (DSA) that would prevent digital intermediaries from interfering with content posted by media outlets is an early Christmas present to the disinformation agents, as it would enable them to continue with their propaganda production, fueled by algorithmic distribution.
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Digital Services Act: The EDRi guide to 2,297 amendment proposals
Various committees in the European Parliament have tabled such a large number of amendments for the Digital Services Act (DSA) that today, EDRi publishes a guide to support Members of the European Parliament in navigating those that would help create a successful, open, and rights-respecting European digital sphere.
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Warning: the EU’s Digital Services Act could repeat TERREG’s mistakes
On 30 September, the Committee of Legal Affairs (JURI) in the European Parliament approved its draft report on a Single Market For Digital Services (Digital Services Act). We had expressed our concerns about negative fundamental rights implications of some proposed measures in the report to the Members of the European Parliament. However, it did not stop the JURI Committee from giving them their green light.
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DSA should tackle the root cause of polarisation, not just its symptoms
Yesterday, 30 September 2021, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) approved its Opinion on the proposed Digital Services Act (DSA). European Digital Rights (EDRi) and its 45 member organisations had previously called on JURI members to reject the compromise proposed by the Rapporteur for Opinion.
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Big Tech platforms are hurting us. 50 organisations urge the EU to #FixAlgorithms
The list of negative consequences of how dominant online platforms shape our experience online is neither short nor trivial. From exploiting users’ vulnerabilities, triggering psychological trauma, depriving people of job opportunities to pushing disturbing content to others, these are just some examples. While members of the European Parliament debate their position on the Digital Services Act (DSA), EDRi’s member Panoptykon Foundation (Poland), together with 49 civil society organisations from all over Europe, including EDRi, Amnesty International, Article 19, European Partnership for Democracy and Electronic Frontier Foundation, urge them to ensure protection from the harms caused by platforms’ algorithms.
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