Europe faces a growing dilemma: how to protect children online without breaking digital privacy for everyone.ย A new report from the Internet Watch Foundation found that 62 percent of allย childย sexual abuse material discovered online last year was hosted on EU servers.ย Itโsย a shocking statistic that has left Brussels locked in a heated debate over how far [โฆ]
Daan Bodson,
LL.M in European Union Law, Universitรฉ Panthรฉon-Assas (Paris 2)
Photo credit:
US Dept of Defense, via Wikimedia
Commons
Introduction
More than two
years after the WHO declared COVID-19 no longer a global emergency, its impact
is…
It’s the first time the protection of minors on social media has led to criminal proceedings.
The Commission sent Shein info requests about illegal products, under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, earlier this year but has so far not opened a formal probe
“These horrible items are illegal,” Roland Lescure said.
Sluggishness from regulators on how to handle artificial intelligence chatbot contrasts starkly with boom in use.
Dutch and Irish elections show voters now have to worry if the political content they consume is real.
American tech companies have piled into EU capital with bigger budgets and beefed-up teams.
On Friday, the European Commission said that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms and TikTok breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s content moderation law attacked by Trump’s administration.
The EU on Friday accused TikTok and Facebook founderโs Marc Zuckerbergโs Meta empire of violating transparency rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the bloc’s new online content law that has drawn the Trump administration’s ire. If the social m…
Meta’s processes for reporting illegal content and informing users about content takedowns were also found to have breached the EU’s Digital Services Act
Move comes as EU faces pressure over enforcing its tech lawbooks.
The Commission has been investigating Metaโs Facebook and Instagram over disinformation and deceptive advertising under the Digital Services Act since April 2024
The Irish presidential election campaign has been disrupted by an artificial intelligence-generated deepfake video of candidate Catherine Connolly announcing her โwithdrawalโ from the race. โIt is with great regret that I announce the withdrawal of my candidacy and the ending of my campaign,โ a deepfake version of Connolly can be heard saying, in a video [โฆ]
France, Austria and the Netherlands say funding should be stripped from groups that fail to uphold EU values.
Ursula von der Leyen is selling simplification like a Kinder Egg โ sweet on the outside for European business, with a surprise inside for Donald Trump.
Enforce Digital Services Act quickly and ban harmful practices such as addictive design and gambling-like game features to protect minors, say MEPs.Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Source : ยฉ European Union, 2025 – EP
The call comes as the EU progresses investigations into Meta, TikTok and others.
The EU executive is preparing โchecklistโ of measures to address U.S. concerns over the blocโs business regulations.
Most EU countries have backed the idea of a digital age of majority.
Politicians and campaigners fear that an advertising law designed to improve transparency could stifle it.
The requests for information, sent under the EU’s Digital Services Act, come as the Commission is considering how to tackle children’s use of social media
The requests are a first step in enforcing the blocโs digital regulations.
Henna Virkkunen cites “different personal styles” amid criticism of her leadership on digital rulebook.
Czech parliament failed to designate a digital watchdog for the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which populist parties in the country have branded a censorship tool
The Commission has rapidly warmed up to a bloc-wide age of “digital majority.”
BRUSSELS โ The European Commission is asking Big Tech platforms how much it costs to comply with the Digital Services Act in a questionnaire seen by POLITICO. The six-page questionnaire sent to Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines on Sept. 19 includes detailed questions about how much companies are spending to come up with [โฆ]
More than 75% of content removal decisions taken by social media platforms were overturned via the EU’s Digital Services Act, report finds
“Apple has simply contested every little bit of the DMA since its entry into application,โ says Commission spokesperson.
‘If we need to go a step further to protect our kids, then why not?โ says Commission spokesperson.
The Commission’s review of the EU’s Digital Services Act must be submitted to the Parliament and Council by 17 November
The โflatter, appease, distractโ strategy may produce the appearance of stability, but it creates a reality of vulnerability.
X has been under investigation by the Commission, under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), since December 2023
The EU executive has one year to draft legislation to collect supervisory fees from Big Tech.
โI want to be crystal clear on one point: whether on environmental or digital regulation, we set our own standards, we set our own regulations,โ says EU Commission chief.
The U.S. president describes himself as the European Unionโs de facto leader. Is he wrong?
โWe cannot be subject to the will of a third country,” the European Commission’s No. 2 said.
A fresh US assault is aimed at Europeโs right to regulate tech. Itโs an outrage โ and we must resist itThierry Breton is the former EU commissioner for digital affairsFresh threats of sanctions have just emerged from across the Atlantic, targeting Euro…
France doesnโt want the EU to take Trumpโs bluster lying down.
President Trump has added a new layer to a months-long U.S. campaign against EU tech regulation.
France’s digital minister said she filed a complaint against Kick for “dissemination of content constituting criminal offenses.”
Donald Trump’s threat to target the blocโs digital rules comes days after joint agreement on trade.
U.S. president launches attack on Europe’s digital rules, drawing opposition from Brussels.
State Department said it is greatly concerned about “increasing censorship” in Europe.
Raphaรซl Graven’s death has sparked renewed scrutiny of livestream platforms.
We detail the hits and misses in the four-page agreement hammered out between the EU and the U.S.
AI-driven companions are always available and they don’t judge. It could distort our view on human friendship.
Raphaรซl Gavren, connu sous le pseudo Jean Pormanove, est mort en plein streaming aprรจs avoir subi ร maintes reprises des violences en direct sur la plateforme Kick. POLITICO revient sur l’attentisme des autoritรฉs, pourtant alertรฉes de la situation dรจs dรฉcembre 2024.
While the EU takes a stab at regulating big platforms, countries and companies bicker over who’s responsible for protective measures.
In todayโs edition of The Capitals, read about Zelenskyy saying the EU will play a major role in Ukraineโs post-war reconstruction, the US ordering its embassies in the EU to lobby against the Digital Services Act, and Germany set to create a National …
Italy is the second European country to fine Shein over greenwashing.
PARIS โ The French government has turned to national regulator Arcom to complain about a TikTok tan lines trend promoting hazardous sun exposure. A growing number of TikTok videos depict young girls giving tips on how to get halterneck tan lines, or โburn lines,โ primarily through sun exposure. โThese types of content, which are increasingly [โฆ]
The list of online platforms under investigation for potential breaches of the EUโs Digital Services Act continues to grow, with the latest addition being Chinese site Temu. In total, 14 proceedings have been opened against 10 platforms, targeting issu…
With both sides claiming victory, Brussels may have to tread carefully when flexing its regulatory muscle against U.S. Big Tech.
A discussion on free speech turned combative after the name Donald Trump came up.
Itโs a one-sided affair with most EU exports subject to a 15 percent U.S. tariff โ but the auto, aviation and semiconductor industries have escaped the worst.
As part of the EU Commission’s ongoing investigation into Temu, under the Digital Services Act tech regulation, Temu has been accused of not doing enough to protect European consumers from dangerous products.
The DSA is bad on paper and worse in practice, said a new report.
The EUโs โOrwellian message won’t fool the United States,โ the State Department said, taking aim at the Digital Services Act, Europe’s tech and social media rulebook.
Social media platform refuses Paris’ demand for access to its algorithm, claiming the probe will “restrict free speech.”
European countries and lawmakers demanded the Commission increase scrutiny of the platform.
National governments increasingly ring the alarm about social media harms to minors’ health.
Kremlin-aligned AI networks are flooding Europeโs fact checkers with deepfakes, forged articles and bot-driven spin, putting the EUโs Digital Services Act to its toughest test yet.
Deputy prime minister says ‘negative effects’ of Elon Muskโs AI chatbot may have been ‘by design.’
EU set to outline latest bid to get Big Tech to reduce AI risks.
X’s chatbot under fire in Poland, too, over insulting comments targeted at Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Von der Leyen’s chief of staff is the man to call to get things done in Brussels. But for a growing number of critics, he has too much control.
European Commission tech chief Henna Virkkunen defends the rules as “based on our European values.”
The highly-anticipated guidelines leave room for EU countries to set minimum ages for social media use.
Sanctioned pro-Russian media are still part of Facebookโs advertising revenue program, new research out Friday showed. Russian state broadcasters, including Rossiya Segodnya โ the organization that oversees both RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik โ were sanctioned following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and barred from broadcasting inside the EU. Key figures in its operations [โฆ]
Sanctioned pro-Russian media are still part of Facebookโs advertising revenue program, new research out Friday showed. Russian state broadcasters, including Rossiya Segodnya โ the organization that oversees both RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik โ were sanctioned following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and barred from broadcasting inside the EU. Key figures in its operations [โฆ]
Caroline Stage Olsen says she is “furious” over Meta advertising campaign.
The Commission accepted many commitments by the e-commerce marketplace to comply with the Digital Services Act but said it has not done enough on illegal products.
The Commission found that the China-based retailer AliExpress failed to mitigate illegal product risks on its platform, as well as accepting commitments related to other DSA concerns.
The Netherlands is the latest country to issue guidelines for minors online.
The subject is not new, but it does allow the French president to wield more influence on a domestic issue than usual.
France faces a tricky legal and technological challenge to make a social media prohibition for under-15s happen.ย
The European Commission on Wednesday said it is ultimately up to national governments to block minors from social media, leaving the door open for France to ban under-15s. Franceโs President Emmanuel Macron late on Tuesday said France โcanโt waitโ any longer in banning social media for children under 15, in response to a fatal stabbing [โฆ]
The government wants platforms to remove adult content or implement stricter age verification controls.
French government also wants to ban websites selling knives to children.
Aurore Bergรฉโs public scolding of industry representatives left insiders shocked and sent Clara Chappaz scrambling to clean up the damage.
Porn industry giant protests Paris’ measures to verify the age of users.
Efforts to protect kids online are gaining traction in Europe.
The investigations will focus on the platforms’ age verification measures, among other things.
“We will not shy away from holding e-commerce platforms to account, regardless of where they are based,” said McGrath.
The Commissionโs next move could reshape tech accountability.
Document obtained by POLITICO shows countries pushing for EU-wide controls to protect kids online.
Liberal campaigners and politicians say social media crackdown to prevent Russian interference has gone too far.
The Commission has said that TikTok failed to publish an advertising repository which is mandatory under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
ByteDance-owned TikTok is the second platform, after Elon Muskโs X, to get an EU warning under the Digital Services Act.
Musk’s platform is challenging the government order to block Istanbul Mayor Ekrem ฤฐmamoฤlu’s account.
The Commission has referred Poland to the EU Court of Justice over two breaches: missing a timeline for CO2-based road charges and failing to implement the Digital Services Act.
The latest attempt to curb AI companies is ensnarled in an epic lobbying battle involving the Trump administration.
After 100 days of U.S. President Donald Trumpโs shock and awe,ย is the EU still stuck in stunned paralysis โ or does it finally have a plan?ย POLITICOย trade reporter Camille Gijs, tech reporter Eliza Gkritsi, defense editor Jan Cienski and senior climate correspondent Karl Mathiesen join host Sarah Wheaton to unpack the EUโs response on multiple [โฆ]
The right-wing billionaireโs platform has recently lost about 10 percent of its European user base.
Romania is about to re-run a high-stakes presidential election, fuelled by a political crisis that has engulfed the country for the last five months. At the end of November, the ultranationalist Calin Georgescu sent shockwaves through the EU by winnin…
European Commissioner Henna Virkkunen is facing growing pressure to wrap up investigations into TikTok, Meta and X.
Plans are being drawn up and, as one EU diplomat said, โWeโll take decisions to protect ourselves.โ
The European Commission will assess whether TikTok is doing enough to stop harmful content connected to eating disorders.
The European Commission will enforce its digital rulebook without fear, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
