How Does the EU’s Digital Services Act Regulate Content Moderation? And Will it Work?

A conversation with Martin Husovec, moderated by Daphne Keller of the Program on Platform Regulation. This session is part of the Spring Seminar Series, a series spanning April through June, hosted at the Cyber Policy Center with the Program on Democracy and the Internet. The Digital Services Act is a new legislation that will soon enter into force in the European Union. The DSA is among the first regulatory attempts around the world to regulate content moderation comprehensively. Unlike the previous generation of rules, it does not rely on liability for third-party content as a policy lever to achieve its goals. Instead, it creates self-standing regulatory expectations – due diligence obligations – that are meant to steward the providers and other actors toward content moderation that better respects the due process rights of individuals. While the DSA limits the decision-making power of platforms in many ways, it arguably does not significantly constrain their rule-making power. The talk will explain the basic ideas and tensions behind the DSA and speculate about the likely impact in the upcoming years.