Extract
[...] If this caution is understandable to avoid the pitfalls of overly hasty regulation, it raises the question of a possible future adjustment to the DSA to introduce faster action mechanisms. 2. Complexity of governance at multiple levels (Commission / Member States / coordinators) : problem of inverted subsidiarity The institutional model established by the DSA is based on a multi-level governance architecture, combining the competences of the European Commission, the digital services coordinators designated in each Member State, and other competent national authorities160. [...]
[...] - Merabet, Samir, "The Digital Service Act: persistence of actors, renewal of qualifications",JCP G - The Legal Weekly, general edition, No doctr p. 1901-1907. - Myers West, Sarah, "Censored, Suspended, Shadowbanned: User Interpretations of Content Moderation on Social Media Platforms",New Media & Society, 2018. - Troper, Michel,The hierarchy of norms, Dalloz, 2020. - York, Jillian, "Content Moderation, Deplatforming, and the "Privatization of Censorship", "Electronic Frontier Foundation, 2021. - Reports - SOS Homophobie, Report on Homophobia 2024, Paris, SOS Homophobie, 2024. [...]
[...] The requalification should be based on objective criteria, such as the nature and frequency of shortcomings, the extent of the damage caused and the demonstration of a manifest absence of cooperation with the authorities. A decision of this nature could be taken by the European Commission, after advice from the independent European supervisory authority mentioned earlier, and accompanied by effective judicial remedies206. By strengthening the liability of recalcitrant platforms, the EU would send a strong signal about its ability to go beyond the voluntary framework or the soft law, to impose effective legal constraints on the most powerful digital actors (namely, the GAFAM). [...]
[...] These measures, often implemented through internal algorithms, are today privileged tools for regulating online speech143. These practices, however, pose a major problem of transparency and legal regulation. In fact, unlike the removal of obviously illicit content, which can be subject to legal control (by a judicial or administrative authority), delisting and demonetization are almost exclusively the result of unilateral decisions by the platforms, taken in accordance with their own terms and policies144. They therefore escape, in most cases, from prior control by a public authority. [...]
[...] But this multiplication of national regulations has engendered a risk of fragmentation of the European internal market, each state imposing its own rules. It is to overcome this situation that the Digital Services Act has been adopted. The Digital Services Act came into force on 16 November 2022. Its general obligations, applicable to all intermediary services, have been in effect since 17 February 2024, while the specific obligations for very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large search engines (VLOSEs) have been in effect since their official designation by the European Commission in April 2023. [...]
