Online Safety

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Today, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin announced the appointment of four Commissioners to Coimisiún na Meán/the  Media Commission. The Media Commission, which  is currently in the process of being established in accordance with the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act (OSMR), will act as the supervisory authority under the OSMR and as Ireland’s Digital Services Coordinator under the Digital Services Act (DSA) and will have the responsibility to implement and enforce the Digital Services Act, an EU Regulation, in Ireland.

The following individuals are being appointed as commissioners:

  • Jeremy
… Continue Reading Appointment of Executive Chairperson and Commissioners to Coimisiún na Meán

The first draft delegated regulation supplementing the Digital Services Act (DSA) was published by the European Commission yesterday.

The regulation outlines the criteria to be used when calculating the supervisory fees which will be charged on very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) under Article 43 of the DSA.

In particular, it includes:Continue Reading DSA: Delegated Regulation setting the methodology and procedure for determining the Supervisory Fee

On 19 December 2022, the Commissioner for Internal Market of the EU published an update on the date when very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) will be required to comply with the provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The Commissioner noted that VLOPs / VLOSEs will be required to comply with the new rules by no later than 1 September 2023. To meet the deadline the Commission would need to designate VLOPs and VLOSEs by 28 April 2023. Based on this update the current timeline of the DSA application is as on the graphic below.Continue Reading Digital Services Act: Timeline

 Update on the Electoral Reform Act 2022

The Electoral Reform Act 2022 (the Act), brings about significant changes to the electoral system in Ireland.

From the perspective of online platforms, Part 4 and Part 5 will be of key importance as they impose new obligations on platform providers to (i) ensure transparency in respect of online political advertising on their services; and (ii) to notify/take action in respect of dis/misinformation relating to online electoral processes on their services.

While the Act was signed into law on 25 July 2022, only certain sections of the Act have been commenced.  Part 4 and Part 5 of the Act have not yet been commenced.Continue Reading Update on the Electoral Reform Act 2022

The Digital Services Act (DSA), a major EU regulation for online content, was signed into law yesterday.

The DSA together with the Digital Markets Act (the DMA) form part of an EU legislative strategy that seeks to create a level playing field for both big and small businesses in the digital world, create a harmonized approach to doing business online and to create a safer environment for users online.

What ‘s new

More particularly, the DSA aims to achieve the following objectives:

  1. Establish a powerful transparency and accountability framework for internet intermediaries:

The DSA will hold intermediaries…

Continue Reading Digital Services Act Update

The Government has published the long anticipated Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022 which it has hailed as a “watershed moment as we move from self-regulation to an era of accountability in online safety”.

Online safety is one of the headline items, and it will be overseen by the newly-established Media Commission (Coimisiún na Meán). The Bill also seeks to implement a number of other key legislative reforms including the transposition of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the alignment of the regulation of video on-demand services with traditional broadcasting.

The publication of this Bill follows input from and engagement with key stakeholders from the public, NGOs, companies and government organisations over the course of the last three years.

We have summarised some of the key aspects of the Bill below.Continue Reading Online Safety & Media Regulation Bill 2022

The European Parliament has adopted a new Regulation requiring online platforms to remove or disable access to flagged terrorist content in all Member States within one hour.  The Regulation will come into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal, and will apply 12 months after its entry into force.
Continue Reading New EU Regulation adopted requiring fast removal of terrorist online content