News from Across the Sea #2:

Welcome to the second edition of News from Accross the Sea. In this issue, we will bid farewell to a key player and welcome new actors—some not so new—to this conversation. The updates surrounding the Digital Services Act continue to pour in. To keep things concise, let's dive straight into the latest developments.

Thierry Breton: The Last Dance

It is time to say goodbye to Thierry Breton, the Commissioner for Internal Market and Services of the European Union, and the main figure of the first edition of our newsletter. Breton, who was responsible for overseeing the implementation and enforcement of the DSA on behalf of the European Commission, had a strained relationship with his boss, Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, for several months.

In September, Breton unexpectedly resigned and, as usual, did so in a way that did not go unnoticed. He announced his decision on his X account, first with an enigmatic meme and, minutes later, with a letter in which he criticized the President of the Commission’s leadership and accused her of asking the French government to withdraw his nomination as Commissioner for the new term.

Breton's resignation occurred amidst harsh criticism of his management. The high profile of the official, combined with the controversies in which he was involved, eroded confidence in the European Commission as the entity responsible for implementing and enforcing the DSA in a balanced and responsible manner. So much so that even other officials have sought to distance themselves from Breton's verbal disputes and the actions of his technical staff.

Breton leaves his position as DSA chief enforcer with a largely negative record. He will be remembered more for his restrictive view of freedom of expression, his high profile and hisquestionableorpoor-quality) memes than for any concrete successes in its implementation.

The Virkkunen Era

The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has presented the candidates to form the College of European Commissioners for her second five-year term at the helm of the body. Finland's Henna Virkkunen will take on the responsibility of implementing the DSA in her roles as Commissioner for Digital Technologies and Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy. A journalist, philosophy graduate, and former Finnish Minister of Education, Virkkunen was deeply involved in drafting the DSA during her time as a Member of the European Parliament. As for her style, media reports suggest she has a low-profile approach, presenting a stark contrast to her predecessor, Breton.

In her Mission Letter, the President of the Commission also tasked Virkkunen with implementing the Digital Markets Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act. Additionally, she assigned her the responsibility of leading a “long-term compliance dialogue” to support the Commission's work on disinformation, within the framework of the European Democratic Shield (European Democracy Shield).

Other tasks under Virkkunen’s responsibility will include promoting European digital standards internationally to position Europe as a global leader, combating “unethical practices” online (such as dark patterns, influencer marketing on social media, addictive digital product design, and online user profiling) and collaborating on the study of the impacts of social media and the action plan against cyberbullying. The workload she will face appears challenging, but for the Finnish candidate, who once celebrated her birthday by running 100 kilometers, has no shortage of stamina. Her fate will be decided at the confirmation hearing before Parliament in Brussels on November 12.

New Out-of-Court Dispute Resolution Bodies

Two new out-of-court dispute resolution bodies have been certified since the previous edition of this newsletter. Alongside User Rights (Germany) and Adroit (Malta) the Online Platform Dispute Resolution Council (Hungary) and the Appeals Centre Europe (Ireland) have now been added.

The Appeals Centre certification has drawn particular attention as it was founded and funded by the Oversight Board Trust, the trust established by Meta to oversee the Oversight Board, which acts as an appeal court for the company’s content moderation decisions. In the case of the Appeals Centre, it will handle claims related to the platforms Facebook, Youtube and Tiktok. This article from TechPolicyPress highlights some of the criticisms raised regarding its certification.

CELE's Contribution to the European Commission's Consultation on Online Child Protection

As we mentioned in the previous edition of this newsletter, the European Commission has launched a call for evidence to help draft guidelines to ensure the protection of minors online, in accordance with Article 28 of the DSA. You can find CELE's contribution at this link.

Opportunities for Participation

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the draft delegated legislation regarding access to online platform data for verified researchers under Section 40 of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The deadline for submissions is 26 November 2024.

What Are We Reading?

User Rights, one of the first entities certified under Article 21 of the DSA, created the Article 21 Academic Advisory Board to develop common standards that can benefit other entities of this nature and inform the work of academia and civil society. In this post, its Director and some of its members discuss some of the challenges that come with implementing DSA in practice.

A group of academics and organizations issued a document with recommendations to the European Commission regarding the implementation of data access for researchers under Article 40 of the DSA. In addition, Anna Liesenfeld (University of Freiburg) wrote this paper on the role of data access and knowledge production in the DSA's risk mitigation system.

Iva Nenadic, (Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom) wrote here on the interplay between the DSA and the European Media Freedom Act.

Thank you once again for reading News from Across the Sea, CELE’s newsletter bringing you everything you need to know about the DSA.

Until next time!