Digital Services Act important for safer digital environment in the EU, say Cypriot MEPs

Cypriot MEPs have described the Digital Services Act as important for a safer digital environment for both citizens and businesses in the EU.

Invited by CNA to comment on the debate that took place on 21 January at the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg the MEPs also drew attention to the risk of affecting freedom of expression and the use of the act’s provisions for purposes other than those originally envisaged.

DISY and EPP MEP Loucas Fourlas said that the legislative act on Digital Services is an important step towards strengthening digital governance and protecting European citizens from the dissemination of illegal content, misinformation and other threats online.

He added that the debate in the European Parliament, however, revealed the different views that exist among Member States and MEPs themselves, which, he noted, demonstrates the lack of a common external policy of the EU, which undermines its ability to act in a unified and effective manner.

Michalis Hadjipantela, DISY and EPP MEP, said that the Digital Services Act is an important step towards the creation of a safer, more transparent online environment in the European Union.

"The Act will strengthen the protection of users from illegal content and promote the responsibility of online platforms. At the same time, it will ensure that smaller businesses are not burdened with disproportionate obligations, thus promoting innovation and competition in the digital market”, he said. Overall, “the Digital Services Act is a balanced approach that protects users' rights, enhances transparency and promotes a secure and fair digital ecosystem in Europe, respecting competitiveness and innovation, in particular for SMEs and start-ups", he noted.

AKEL and Left MEP Giorgos Georgiou said that the debate on the digital services legislative act was the result of "the European Commission's inaction in the face of unprecedented controversial behaviour of big digital companies”.

"Our basic position, as the Left, is that since we do not focus on the business model of Big Tech platforms, which attract users through extreme content, we cannot really address the root causes of the spread of hate speech and misinformation online”, he said.

“We call for Europe and its Member States to regain digital sovereignty. This can be done by protecting/armouring the Legislative Act and using it to further investigate Big Tech, while, in the long term, fostering the proliferation of other public/social alternative platforms (e.g. Bluesky or Mastodon). At the moment, the silence on the part of the European Commission leadership on this issue remains deafening," he noted.

DIKO and Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats MEP Costas Mavrides said that the right to freedom of expression is a fundamental right in European democracies, but it is always exercised within the framework of basic EU legal rules that set limits.

“Freedom of expression without limits does not exist in a democracy. Therefore, it seems paradoxical to consider any restriction or limitation as censorship and a violation of the right of expression. Indeed, in oligopolies, where a company abuses its dominant position, the law imposes restrictions, let alone when the abuse concerns the flow of information and information that is relevant to democracy. Therefore, opposition to any restriction is unfounded and hypocritical, especially when it comes from those who rightly lead the way in imposing barriers against lies and misinformation from authoritarian regimes such as Putin's and Erdogan's," he noted.

ELAM and the European Conservatives and Reformists group MEP, Geadis Geadi, said that the thinking behind the creation of the Digital Services Act may have been to create safer digital spaces, but over time, he noted, "it is being exploited as a tool for silencing".

"So-called preventive censorship is not a solution, so it is necessary to find a way to protect users without compromising their fundamental rights. The current course of the Digital Service Act needs to be re-evaluated, as the very freedoms it is meant to protect are threatened, as we have seen happen many times in the past, with patriotic forces across Europe, and us in Cyprus, being the victims", he noted.

Finally, independent MEP Fidias Panayiotou, said in his remarks during yesterday’s debate that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, recently accused the European Union of institutionalizing censorship, while similar comments have also been made in the past by the owner of the platform X, Elon Musk.

“If these accusations are true, then we have a problem, as millions of posts that are being censored across Europe, under the label of misinformation, might be censored unfairly. Many times, in the past, posts that were labeled as misinformation, finally have turned out to be factually correct. We cannot have a proper democracy if we censor only one side of the story”, he noted. 

“The accusations of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are very serious, and I believe we should take them into consideration. That’s why I propose to invite them to come here to the European Parliament for a deep discussion on how we should moderate our content", he stressed.

It should be noted that during the debate in question, for the first time, the Presidency applied a pilot system whereby the list of speakers was not announced in advance but those who had expressed an interest in intervening waited for their names to be announced during the debate.

According to EP sources, around 150 MEPs participated in the debate, almost three times the number of MEPs in similar debates, staying in the room for longer than usual, while none of the scheduled speakers were absent. There was also a significantly higher number of blue cards and petitions that attracted interest.

(Source: CNA)