Let’s start with the basics: Happy New Year! Beyond that the most notable piece of news is that the European Parliament has adopted its position on the new content moderation rules, a.k.a. Digital Services Act and “trilogues” are starting today. We will also give you an overview of what to expect this year from the European Commission in terms of proposals. 

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Written by Dimi (dimi@wikimedia.be) & Anna (anna@wikimedia.be). Do get in touch!

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Now that we have our own blog, we will try to keep everything in this letter a bit shorter & with links, so you can grab the updates here, but still enjoy the in-depth reading elsewhere. Let’s go!

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Digital Services Act trilogues begin, after the European Parliament has adopted its position on 20 January. During the committee votes MEPs had already made sure “notices” don’t automatically oblige the platform to consider something illegal and included language that distinguishes between service provider rules and community made rules. We also have a “waiver” that could allow us to not apply certain obligations on Wikipedia, such as out-of-court dispute settlement mechanisms. During the plenary vote, solid language was added to limit user tracking: “dark patterns”, targeted advertising based on sensitive data (e.g. political and religious beliefs) and the targeting of minors are to be banned. 

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Trilogue Sticking Points: The Council and the Commission have no language on limiting or banning tracking and targeted advertising, while inside the Parliament two large groups: EPP and Renew Europe didn’t quite embrace those. On the other hand, the Council wants to make the European Commission the authority in charge of overseeing “Very Large Online Platforms” (Wikipedia is expected to be one), while the Parliament leaves this to national regulators. We expect these to be the main sticking points. A thorough comparison of the negotiating positions from a free knowledge perspective is to be found on our blog:  

• Three Column Comparison

• Amendments that limit user tracking 

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Commission to continue proposing regulations: The legislative frenzy that is seeing files being proposed and passing at breakneck speed (by Brussels standards) is not over. We expect:

1. The Data Act to be proposed on 23 February.

2. To see a new legislation on tackling child sexual abuse material online on 8 March. 

3. A presentation of something called the European Health Data Space on 22 June. 

4. the unveiling of a right to repair initiative on 5 July. 

5. A European Media Freedom Act on 13 July. 

Hold on tight!

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The Digital Markets Act is aiming at regulating competition among online platforms. A quick deal is advertised by all sides, but fundamental differences . A main issue is who will be designated a “gatekeeper”. The European Parliament is suggesting tougher obligations on a smaller group of services, the Council casts its net wider, but with fewer rules. This tricky question should be discussed and decided first. A more detailed analysis is available. 

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The Data Act is expected to also reform the “sui generis” database right in the EU. The results of the European Commission’s consultation were announced and aren’t very conclusive. The majority (54%) agree that the ‘sui generis’ right should be reviewed, in particular in relation to the status of machine-generated data although almost half of these are unsure of the relation between this type of data and the Database Directive.The  main  difficulty  reported  was  the  lack  of  clarity of  the  ‘sui  generis’ right  (11%  of  respondents  to  the  section),  but  20% also said they “experienced no difficulties” (20%).

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The Artificial Intelligence Act has finally found its home in the European Parliament. The Civil Liberties (LIBE) and the Internal Market (IMCO) committees will lead jointly, with MEPs Brando Benifei (S&D, IT) and Dragoş Tudorache (RE, RO) at the helm. Plus, a well know face from the “copyright wars”, Axel Voss (EPP, DE) will be at the helm of the Legal Affairs committee (JURI), which got exclusive competence over provisions covering information to users of high risk AI systems, transparency obligations, codes of conduct and human oversight. One thing we are trying to figure out is under which obligations a “anti-vandalism” bot written and maintained by users on Wikipedia would fall. Expect more from us in the coming months. 

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Open Source Decision: The European Commission decided that all software produced by it or on its behalf is to be open source and freely reusable. 

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Copyright transpositions: While countries like Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Portugal and Czechia are still waiting for their parliaments to even start dealing with the copyright reform, Estonia, Austria and Spain have now updated their rules. All three implement the public domain safeguard, but Estonia and Austria include a few more safeguards for making sure uses under copyright exceptions are protected. Spain transposed the law by “emergency decree”, so the parliament could still amend it. Follow the DSM Implementation Contest here. Will anyone get the full 12 points?  

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One year of professional advocacy at Wikimedia France: Our Paris based colleague Naphsica looks back at her first year at Wikimedia in a Retrospective: a year of advocacy at Wikimedia France. Bon Wikiversaire! :)