On Thursday 8 February, MEPs held talks with the Commission and the EU Council on the responsibility of online platforms in the context of the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13341/28), against the backdrop of an increase in the volume of disinformation content and the European elections due to take place from 6 to 9 June.
The DSA’s European Parliament rapporteur, Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Danish), called on the Commission “not to let Putin’s trolls steal votes” in the European elections. “We have to start taking action,” she insisted, adding that “the elections will be the first test of the DSA’s strength”. “The S&D will denounce all those who do not respect the rules,” she also assured.
While most MEPs, like Ms Schaldemose, stressed the importance of the DSA, some, like German MEP Andreas Schwab (EPP), also felt that there was “still a lot of work to do” in terms of implementing the text in order to ensure that the elections take place under good conditions.
In his view, pressure should be put on the Member States in particular, since only eight of them have so far appointed their national digital services coordinators (see EUROPE 13317/10), who are responsible for helping the Commission to identify and assess systemic risks and for carrying out investigative activities as part of its inquiries into compliance with the rules by platforms. On 19 October, the Commission asked the Member States to speed up the implementation of the DSA to curb the publication of disinformation and illegal content online (see EUROPE 13274/3).
“We know that the election period will be a particular target for hybrid attacks and foreign interference”, said Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, judging that the forthcoming elections will be “marked by the trials of recent years”, such as the pandemic, political instability, climate change and “return of war to our continent”.
“This is a crucial year with many elections. More than ever, we need to step up our efforts in the digital world”, added Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib.
To put some order into what the inter-institutional negotiators used to call the ‘digital Wild West’, Thierry Breton also indicated that the major platforms could rely on guidelines relating to the integrity of electoral processes. These will be presented “by the end of March” so that they can be applied ahead of the elections.
On Thursday 8 February, the day after the debate in the Strasbourg chamber, the Commission opened a consultation period to gather opinions on its draft guidelines.
Link to the consultation: https://aeur.eu/f/arz (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)