Protect creative freedom across Europe’s digital platforms
1895: The Lumières created the first movie.
Today, rules could leave innovation in the dark.
1895: The Lumières created the first movie.
Today, rules could leave innovation in the dark.
What is the issue?
At the dawn of the 20th century, Auguste and Louis Lumière transformed how the world experiences stories by inventing the motion picture camera. With the very first movie, the French brothers laid the foundation for today’s visual content and video-sharing platforms.
Europe retains its capacity to innovate and amaze. Yet if the Lumières launched their movies today, they would face a maze of EU regulations and creative restrictions that slow innovation and limit how creators can connect with their audiences.
For Europe’s modern creators, publishers, and online platforms, complex and inconsistent rules – from the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and Digital Services Act to the European Media Freedom Act – make it harder to operate across borders, invest confidently in local content, and reach audiences at scale.
To keep Europe at the forefront of creativity and innovation, policymakers must modernise the framework that shapes how stories are told and shared.
That means:
1. Streamline Europe’s content rules for the digital era.
2. Make online fairness work for users and businesses.
3. Simplify moderation to protect users and free expression.
1. Streamline Europe’s content rules for the digital era
Smarter media rules will give Europeans more choice and creators more freedom.
Innovative platforms host, produce, stream, and distribute the content that brings European stories to life. But conflicting rules under the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) create overlapping requirements that raise costs for companies, introduce obstacles to the cross-border provision of services, and limit users’ experience.
The way forward for bold and ambitious simplification:
I. Safeguard a harmonised Single Market for innovation.
Uphold the AVMSD country-of-origin principle and resist national ‘gold-plating’ initiatives that fragment the internal market and increase costs for cross-border creative services by going beyond established EU rules.
II. Avoid regulatory overlap between media and digital rules.
Potential overlap between the AVMSD and the DSA should be addressed before new initiatives are considered to clarify the legal framework related to minor protection, influencer marketing, and protection from harmful content.
III. Reaffirm the DSA as Europe’s baseline framework.
Future laws should build on, not duplicate, the DSA’s standards. Clear guidance needs to prevent conflicting timelines and moderation requirements, ensuring the DSA remains the core framework where media freedom and content accountability coexist.
2. Make online fairness work for users and businesses
Fair rules, not more rules, for a safer and better online experience.
As the EU prepares a new initiative on online fairness and consumer protection with the Digital Fairness Act (DFA), it is essential to focus on appropriately enforcing existing rules, such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), rather than adding new layers of potentially overlapping obligations.
Duplicating what’s already covered by laws risks creating confusion for users and businesses, inconsistent enforcement by Member States, and slower rollout of products.
The way forward for bold and ambitious simplification:
I. Clarify and enforce before legislating.
Many areas considered for the DFA (e.g. dark patterns, personalisation, influencers) are already covered by existing EU rules. The focus should be on clarifying and enforcing the DSA and consumer laws before introducing new obligations.
II. Avoid overlap with existing frameworks.
Ensure the upcoming Digital Fairness Act initiative complements, rather than duplicates, horizontal EU rules governing platforms and pre-existing consumer-protection rules.
III. Respect technological and channel neutrality.
Set clear objectives for digital-fairness rules without prescribing one-size-fits-all solutions. Keep regulations technology- and channel-neutral to ensure online and offline services are treated equally.
3. Simplify moderation to protect users and free expression
Clear, consistent moderation will make Europe’s online spaces safer and more open.
For social media, video-sharing platforms, and cloud providers fragmented rules and overlapping obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), and potentially the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act make it harder to act swiftly and responsibly. Inconsistent guidance across EU laws creates uncertainty for companies and regulators, diverting resources away from improving safety and the user experience. A streamlined, predictable framework would help platforms focus on what matters most: protecting European users and supporting free expression.
The way forward for bold and ambitious simplification:
I. Finalise essential DSA guidance.
Publish missing guidelines on trusted flaggers, user-counting methodology, dark patterns, and interface design to provide clear, consistent direction on moderation, transparency, and risk-mitigation duties across all Member States.
II. Clarify how EMFA and DSA fit together.
Differences between the two laws, especially around how and when content from self-declared ‘media service providers’ can be taken down, create uncertainty and confusion. Clarify their interaction and confirm that the DSA remains the main framework for managing online content in Europe.
III. Streamline reporting and enforcement.
Improve coordination between EU and national authorities for uniform application of online safety rules. Streamline DSA reporting so platforms can reuse data across requirements and avoid additional national or sector-specific obligations.
