European Commission

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the Digital Services Act, a landmark package announced by President von der Leyen in her political guidelines and in the Commission's Communication “Shaping Europe's Digital Future” of 19 February.

The European Commission compared the current situation with the one before its open internet regulation entered into force (on 30 April 2016) and concluded that the regulation’s principles are appropriate and effective in protecting end-users’ rights and promoting the internet as an engine for innovation. The report suggests that there is no need to amend the regulation at this stage, in order to continue with the regulatory stability and in view of continuing protecting end-users’ rights and promoting open access to the internet.

The European Commission published the latest reports by Facebook, Google and Twitter covering the progress made in March 2019 to fight disinformation. The three online platforms are signatories to the Code of Practice against disinformation and have committed to report monthly on their actions ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2019.

The European Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for breaching European Union antitrust rules. Google has abused its market dominance by imposing a number of restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites which prevented Google's rivals from placing their search adverts on these websites.

The European Commission published reports by Facebook, Google and Twitter covering the progress made in January 2019 on their commitments to fight disinformation. These three online platforms are signatories of the Code of Practice against disinformation and have been asked to report monthly on their actions ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2019.