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5 October 2021CopyrightMuireann Bolger

EU green lights Digital Service Act

Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) have, by a majority vote, decided to adopt its draft Digital Services Act.

The vote took place on Thursday, September 30, and news of the outcome was promptly shared by JURI on Twitter.

As set out in the draft text approved by the JURI members, the aim of the Digital Services Act is to “set out uniform, proportionate, harmonised rules for a safe, predictable, accessible and trusted online environment” and to“facilitate innovation, support digital transition, encourage economic growth and create a level playing field for digital services within the internal market”.

Although the Digital Services Act is geared towards protecting consumers online, the draft legislation has prompted controversy due to  the stricter regulations it imposes on digital platforms, which has raised concerns about free speech online.

For example, the proposed Article 8 of the Digital Services Act would allow one member state to order the removal of content which was legally published in another member state. However, public authorities will be given the right to order the reinstatement of legal content which has been removed.

The legislation introduces strict takedown deadlines for illicit content, which will need to be removed within 72 hours of it being reported (Article 31). People who are identified as being reliable flaggers of illegal content will be given preferential treatment too (Article 14a).

Beforethe vote, the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned members of the European Parliament against this system of flagging, claiming it gave one set of rules to ordinary internet users and a “more permissive set of rules” to influencers and politicians.

The Digital Services Act also requires that platforms take down certain unauthorised live streams within 30 minutes (Article 5) and that they take steps to deal with those who “repeatedly provide illegal content” (Article 20).

This approved version of the draft Digital Services Act that resulted from numerous changes made over the past few months, following lobbying by stakeholders and amendments proposed by European parliamentary groups.

But, as reported by TorrentFreak, no-one appears to be pleased with the resulting legislation. While copyright owners are concerned that the Digital Services Act does not go far enough, others have suggested it will result in freedom of speech being restricted.

Now that members of JURI have voted in favour of adopting the Digital Services Act, the approved text will be considered by the Internal Market Committee.

Last week, JURI members voted to welcome the aims set out in the European Commission’s EU IP Action Plan. The plan, presented by the Commission in late 2020, proposed several updates to the existing IP framework in the EU, aimed at helping companies to capitalise on their inventions.

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