Give Europeans privacy and access to information
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Gutenberg revolutionised information sharing.
Today, rules could stop the presses.
What is the issue?
In the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg transformed the world with the invention of the printing press – a European breakthrough that revolutionised how knowledge was shared by making information accessible and affordable to all.
Today’s equivalent of that revolution is digital. Online platforms, social media, news outlets, and publishing tools allow people to create and access ideas instantly and anywhere.
Europe’s innovative spirit remains strong. Yet if Gutenberg were alive today, he would face a far more complex landscape. Operating digital tools in the European Union means navigating contradictory EU rules on data protection, media regulation, online content, and information flows.
Laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation, Digital Services Act, ePrivacy Directive, Data Act, and the European Media Freedom Act each serve an important purpose. But together, they create overlaps and inconsistencies – making it harder to share and access information across borders.
To keep Europe at the forefront of innovation and information sharing, the EU must simplify and align the rules that govern how information is created, used, shared, and protected.
That means:
1. Protect privacy while enabling access to information
2. Make Europe’s digital rules work for users and innovators
3. Ensure Europe’s AI rules foster innovation and access to information
1. Protect privacy while enabling access to information
Smart, consistent data rules should safeguard users’ privacy while supporting access to knowledge.
Online services and platforms help European consumers and businesses communicate, create, search, and collaborate. But unnecessarily complex regulatory tensions – such as limitations on consumers’ ability to move their data from one online service to another, coupled with rigid and fragmented consent requirements – create significant legal uncertainty. This makes it harder to process, share, and transfer data responsibly, and risks disruptions to Europeans’ online experience, without meaningful benefits.
The way forward for bold and ambitious simplification
I. Ensure coherence across data rules
Clarify how the Digital Services Act (DSA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Data Act interact in order to eliminate contradictions on data portability, content moderation, and third-party access to personal data. A clear framework would give firms legal certainty to process data responsibly while protecting user privacy.
II. Give users real control over their data
Remove conflicts between the Data Act and the GDPR so Europeans can easily move their data between trusted platforms of their own choice. Clear, consistent portability standards will make switching or sharing between apps and online tools simpler and more secure for consumers.
III. Simplify privacy for consumers and services
Apply the GDPR consistently across all EU digital laws to create one predictable, risk-based privacy system. Streamlining rules on low-risk processing and reducing repetitive consent requests, will make the experience smoother and more secure, while maintaining strong privacy protection.
2. Make Europe’s digital rules work for users and innovators
Coherent, predictable rules will help Europeans access information and give online platforms the clarity to deliver it.
Every day, millions of Europeans connect to news, entertainment, and information thanks to online platforms and digital services. Yet inconsistencies between the Digital Services Act (DSA), European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) – coupled with missing guidance and duplicative reporting – create uncertainty for digital services working in good faith to comply. At the same time, they limit users’ access to information and burden innovators with unnecessary costs.
The way forward for bold and ambitious simplification
I. Safeguard a harmonised Single Market
Uphold the DSA as Europe’s baseline rulebook and prevent gold-plating of EU rules by national governments or contradictory new proposals that undermine legal certainty for cross-border services.
II. Clarify and complete the DSA framework
Deliver the missing guidelines and methodologies (such as on trusted flaggers, risk mitigation, and user-counting) to ensure consistent, predictable enforcement across all Member States.
III. Eliminate conflict and duplication of rules
Clarify overlaps between the DSA, AVMSD, and the EMFA – especially on minor protection, influencers, and media moderation – to prevent double regulation and ensure one coherent rulebook for online platforms.
3. Ensure Europe’s AI rules foster innovation and access to information
Smarter rules for artificial intelligence (AI) will help European consumers and businesses benefit from innovative digital services.
Just as Gutenberg’s printing press opened access to knowledge, today’s AI-powered tools and digital platforms shape how people create, search, and communicate. Clear, consistent rules will let European innovators build trustworthy AI that enhances how information is discovered, translated, and understood.
The way forward for bold and ambitious simplification
I. Give innovators time to comply meaningfully
Introduce a ‘stop-the-clock’ mechanism to ensure that key AI Act obligations take effect only after all missing guidance, codes of practice, and standards are in place. This way companies can prepare properly, apply rules consistently, and implement rules effectively, without holding back innovation from European users.
II. Define AI systems consistently across EU laws
Align how ‘automated systems’ are defined across EU legislation (e.g. AI Act, General Data Protection Regulation, Platform Work Directive), or issue practical guidance to close gaps. This will cut red tape, address legal uncertainty, and avoid duplicated compliance for products and services that make Europeans’ lives easier.
III. Respect copyright boundaries and global collaboration
Remove or clarify provisions in the AI Act that appear to extend the application of EU copyright rules beyond Europe’s jurisdiction and contradict established EU and international principles. Protecting the principle of territoriality will give legal certainty to AI developers and foster innovation in Europe.
Simplifying and aligning Europe’s digital framework will strengthen both access to information and innovation – ensuring that Europe remains a place where ideas can spread as freely as Gutenberg once imagined.