Hello!
Traditionally we don’t send out a monitoring report at the end of December.
However, with the DSA, child protection, copyright and AI, plenty has piled
up. So we decided to give you an update, in order to start 2025 with clear
structure in our heads.
Dimi & Michele
=== DSA ===
Consultation: Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) are supposed to give
researchers access to their data under Europe’s content moderation law
(Digital Services Act, DSA). The European Commission will issue additional
rules
<https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/1…>
and is currently consulting on them. Naturally civil society and academics
worry VLOPs will be too restrictive, while platforms worry about extra
work and data protection. The Wikimedia Foundation’s reply is published
<https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/1…>
.
—
Challenges: Six platforms are challenging the Commission’s decision
designating them as “very large”: Pornhub, XNXX, Stripchat, XVideos and
Zalando.
—
Proceedings: As a regulator, the Commission has open proceedings against
TikTok, X, AliExpress, Facebook, Instagram and Temu. The challenges are
regarding advertising, dark patterns, illegal content and protection of
minors. [Data compiled by Euractiv.
<https://www.euractiv.com/section/tech/news/dsa-audit-score-card-how-are-big…>
]
=== Child Protection ===
CSAM in Council: The Hungarian Presidency forced governments in the Council
to reveal their position on the proposed CSAM
<https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52022PC0209>
regulation. The main argument is around a provision that mandates the
scanning of all private chats for CSA materials. The results are that
Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Czechia, Poland,
Estonia, Finland and Belgium would be against, mainly citing that it would
amount to surveillance.
=== Copyright ===
Opt-out exceptions: The Copyright Directive allows AI crawlers to tap into
any publicly accessible content, as long as the rights holders have not
opted out (through a technical mechanism that is currently being reviewed).
However this doesn’t always seem to work smoothly. The French tech lobby
now suggests <https://www.francedigitale.org/en/posts/gen-ai-and-copyright>
dropping the opt-out mechanism in the text and data mining exception and
moving to an extended licensing scheme.
—
UK Consultation: The UK government has opened a consultation on copyright
and artificial intelligence
<https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-and-artificial-intell…>.
WMUK will participate.
==== AI Liability Directive ====
The AI Liability Directive
<https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/doing-business-eu/contra…>
was proposed back in 2022, but lawmakers decided to hold off on it while
the AI Act was getting hammered out. It would aim to close some gaps not
covered by other laws. Now the question is whether to proceed at all. The
European Commission and parts of the EU Parliament, including Axel Voss (DE
EPP) who claims he was less regulation for companies, want to proceed.
Other parts of the European Parliament (including other German EPP members)
and the Council are against. The first months of 2025 will be decisive to
see if this gets off the ground.
==== From the Blog ====
-
Deep Dive: The New von der Leyen Commission
<https://wikimedia.brussels/deep-dive-the-new-von-der-leyen-commission/>
-
The worrisome phenomenon of SLAPPs in Europe: the new 2024 CASE Report
<https://wikimedia.brussels/the-worrisome-phenomenon-of-slapps-in-europe-the…>
===END===
--
Wikimedia Europe ivzw
Dear all,
With Wikimania 2025 fast approaching, I'm delighted to share an excellent
resource that came out of Wikimania 2024.
The report
<https://openfuture.eu/publication/open-movements-commons-causes/> from the
Common(s) Causes day zero event has been published.
The report maps current threats and opportunities facing the open movement.
It is based on the ongoing work of the organizations behind the Common(s)
Cause event: Creative Commons, Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Future, and
Wikimedia Europe (in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation).
All of the findings are highly relevant to your work as Wikimedians
interested in policy advocacy. One that stood out in particular: the call
for a shared advocacy agenda, which could help ensure that Knowledge
Commons are treated and sustained as critical digital infrastructures. The
report identifies opportunities such as:
1. (Re)defining openness in a new technological era.
2. Creation of a shared advocacy strategy and enhanced regional and
thematic cooperation across the organizations.
3. Developing and testing governance approaches for our digital commons.
4. Advancing openness and sustainability for the technology, data,
content, and governance of Digital Public Infrastructure.
Thank you to our friends in the open movement for hosting such an important
event at Wikimania and for bringing us together!
Enjoy the read and resources.
Best,
Ziski
Franziska Putz (she/her)
Senior Movement Advocacy Manager
Global Advocacy, Wikimedia Foundation
Fputz(a)wikimedia.org
UTC Timezone