In this chapter, I introduce the reasons for and the challenges of creating a framework regulation for digital service providers in the EU. I analyse the rules passed in 2022–2024, including the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, the Code of Practice on Disinformation, and the European Media Freedom Act’s rules on the relationship between digital platforms and media. I point out that this complex set of rules is aimed at creating and fostering a diverse information environment rather than directly regulating content. Instead of curtailing the privileges of the platforms, the law furnishes them with more responsibility and the expectation to exert due diligence to preserve the values of democracy and fundamental rights.
The research in the background of this writing has been funded by the Institute for Information, Telecommunication and Media Law at the University of Münster where the author was a research fellow and guest researcher thanks to the generous hospitality of Professor Bernd Holznagel. Thoughts on the microscopic fundamental rights violations have emerged during research funded by WiRe Fellowship and been elaborated during the author’s fellowship at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Bochum.