Prof. Paul De Hert and Andrés Chomczyk Penedo published in the EU Law Analysis blog on the Digital Services Act

Prof. Paul De Hert and Andrés Chomczyk Penedo (twitter account: @achomczyk)have published a blogpost on the Digital Services Act in the EU Law Analysis blog, edited by Prof. Steve Peers (twitter account: @StevePeers). The piece is title ‘A democratic alternative to the Digital Services Act's handshake between States and online platforms to tackle disinformation’.

In the contribution, the authors explored how the Digital Services Act deals with different kinds of online content and analyze the implications of a platform-based content moderation regime for a democratic society.

Inspired by the paper ‘The Invisible Handshake: The Reemergence of the State in the Digital Environment’, they argue that a second invisible digital handshake would be taking place under the Digital Services Act. Through this agreement, States would further transfer government-like powers to private companies, particularly BigTech.

The piece ends by suggesting more democratic alternatives that allow for direct citizens involvement in tackling categories of legal but controversial content.