"Digital Services Act"

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(Bild: CDPiC - stock.adobe.com)

The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) aims to prevent the distribution of illegal content and better protect users from hate speech and disinformation. It also regulates the obligations of digital platforms and service providers. However, the law is a thorn in the side of the FPÖ. FPÖ MEP Petra Steger called for an end to the Digital Services Act on Thursday.

"The enemies of free speech in Brussels", Steger said in a press release, had "created an ideologically motivated censorship tool". They would come under pressure in the slipstream of US President Donald Trump's upcoming term of office.

FPÖ: "Suppression of unwelcome opinions"
 TheFPÖhas long since recognized that the vague terms "disinformation" and "hate speech" are being misused as instruments to establish "brutal surveillance of the internet, including the suppression of unwelcome opinions".

The EU's investigation into the recent online conversation between X boss Elon Musk and AfD chairwoman Alice Weidel should also be stopped immediately, Steger demanded. "Anything else would be party-politically motivated persecution and interference in the German election campaign."

Instead, the EU and German institutions are complaining of inadmissible interference by Musk in the German parliamentary election campaign. The Bundestag wants to investigate whether this constitutes interference in the German election campaign and an illegal party donation.

ÖVP: Disinformation campaigns "dangerous to democracy"
ÖVP delegation leader Reinhold Lopatka rejected the FPÖ's criticism of the DSA. "We have recently seen in the course of the presidential election in Romania how dangerous disinformation campaigns can be to democracy. For the first time, a supreme court has seen fit to annul an election on these grounds. What is prohibited offline must also be subject to a set of rules online," explained Lopatka in a press release.

"In the spirit of a defensive democracy, we must combat disinformation in the digital space and the EU has taken an important measure with the Digital Service Act to create uniform rules and prevent illegal or harmful online activities and the spread of disinformation. The main focus is on transparency obligations for providers of digital services and the possibility of reporting illegal content. Above all, the right to a complaints procedure must be guaranteed for users. All of this is absolutely essential for democracy - as is the promotion of quality media," said Lopatka.

The EU law is intended to prevent illegal or harmful online activities.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com (Symbolbild))

SPÖ: "Most important instrument" against hate and hate speech
SPÖ MEP Elisabeth Grossmann also emphasized the importance of the DSA in a press release. The Digital Services Act is "our most important instrument for taking action against hate, hate speech and misinformation online and thus protecting our democracy. It promotes the transparency and accountability of large online platforms and makes them responsible for disclosing their algorithms and deleting false reports more quickly."

Grossmann continued: "Because it is precisely these algorithms that favor extreme content and thus distort freedom of expression. The clear rules of the DSA can protect the free formation of opinion, but also take action against polarizing content, disinformation and hate speech. Protecting our democracy has become more important than ever, especially online. What is illegal offline must also be illegal online."