With the adoption of the landmark new set of EU rules for a safer and more accountable online environment, a network of civil society organizations gathered to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by the Digital Services Act regarding its implementation at the national level. This open letter is the result of our collaboration aimed at strengthening the harmonization of the DSA implementation process across EU member states.
The importance of this debate is underscored by the tight timetable. Recently, on 17 February, the deadline for online platforms to publish the number of monthly active users expired. Furthermore, the deadline for EU member states to appoint Digital Services Coordinators is less than a year away.
We recognize the urgency of setting up the Commission’s oversight system for very large online platforms. However, this should not come at the cost of sidelining the member states’ role; they have to set up independent Digital Services Coordinators, which have significant oversight tasks to fulfil. Therefore, we would like to contribute to the debate with a set of recommendations representing a common position of 14 European civil society organizations and independent experts.
Signatories
AlgorithmWatch (Germany)
ApTI (Romania)
Danes je nov dan (Slovenia)
Državljan D (Slovenia)
Eticas Tech (Spain)
Frank Bold – Reconstruction of the State (Czechia)
Globsec – Alliance for Healthy Infosphere (Slovakia/international)
Homo Digitalis (Greece)
Instrat Foundation (Poland)
Panoptykon (Poland)
Privacy Network (Italy)
Simon Chignard (France)
Soizic Pénicaud (France)
Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, SNV (Germany)