Digital Policy Lab: Policy Digest #13

Policy Digests offer an overview of recent digital policy developments in Digital Policy Lab (DPL) member countries, including regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives aiming to combat online harms such as disinformation, hate speech, extremist or terrorist content.

The European Commission services signed administrative arrangements with the media regulators of France (Autorité de regulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique, Arcom), Ireland (Coimisiún na Meán), and Italy (Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni, AGCOM) to support its supervisory and enforcement powers under the DSA. The Commission also published a Recommendation in the context of “an unprecedented increase in illegal and harmful content being disseminated online” within the EU, as the document refers to both Russia’s war in Ukraine and the terrorist attack by Hamas. Furthermore, the Commission sent requests for information to Meta, Tiktok, and X employing its investigatory powers under the DSA. In the UK, the Online Safety Act received Royal Assent. The Act gives Ofcom the authority to enforce the new requirements, including regulatory supervision of services that enable the sharing of user-generated content and search services. Ofcom also published its first consultation on illegal harms, including child sexual abuse material, terrorist content and fraud. New Zealand and France co-hosted the 2023 Christchurch Call Leaders’ Summit in Paris, bringing together government, technology companies, partner organisations, and civil society to cover a range of issues at the intersection of technology and extremism. In the US, President Biden issued an Executive Order covering the impacts and governance of AI across the areas of safety, privacy, civil rights, education, healthcare, government, workplaces, innovation and competition, and global cooperation.