KInIT signed a letter to MEPs to reject a media exemption in the Digital Service Act

More than 50 fact-checkers & experts are calling on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to reject a media exemption in the Digital Service Act (DSA). KInIT signed the initiative because we too believe that such a clause would risk turning the DSA into a highway for hate speech and disinformation. 

The media exemption clause threatens to be a step backward on the status quo. It would reverse years of progress in the fight against hate speech and disinformation online, preventing very large online platforms from downranking, deleting, or even labeling any content coming from a press publication — regardless of whether a given post is actively peddling hateful, patently false or otherwise harmful content. 

Alongside other journalists and disinformation experts, we are concerned about the broad and ambiguous definition of what constitutes a “press publication” and “audiovisual media service”. 

The DSA must reflect our need for media pluralism, cultural, linguistic diversity, and easy access to reliable news and information. However, by giving a free ride to the broadly defined “editorial content providers” and “media service providers” and exempting them from any moderation, we risk turning the DSA into a highway for hate speech and disinformation. 

Or, as Clothidle Goujard, a technology reporter for POLITICO Europe puts it in her article, “a bid to protect journalistic content online could turn into a disinformation disaster.”

All of our political groups have made strong public statements about fighting hate speech and disinformation online. We believe it is now time to turn these words into action.

Please read the full statement:  https://www.disinfo.eu/advocacy/fact-checkers-and-experts-call-on-meps-to-reject-a-media-exemption-in-the-dsa/