Keywords
Social media networks, disinformation, media regulation, crisis response mechanism, Digital Services Act
Abstract
Social media networks have become predominant sources of free and open access information. However, they generally fall outside the scope of media regulation, leaving information on those platforms largely unregulated. While social media is a catalyst for disinformation and propaganda, it also allows for fast and widespread dissemination of reliable information. A crisis response mechanism (CRM) was added to the Digital Services Act which gives the European Commission the power to require providers of very large online platforms to assess the contribution of their services to a serious threat to public security or public health and apply effective countermeasures. Although the CRM interferes with a social media network’s right to conduct business it is necessary to safeguard individuals’ right to reliable information which is essential to democracy.
Acknowledgements
Funding
This article received no funding
The cost of editing selected articles published in the Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies in the 2022–2024 is covered by funding under the program “Development of scientific journals” of the Ministry of Education and Science under agreement No. RCN/SN/0324/2021/1. Task title: “Verification and correction of scientific articles and their abstracts”. Funding value: 36 298,00 PLN; The task consists of professional editing of articles published in English.
Declaration of Conflict of interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.
Declaration about the scope of AI utilisation
The author did not use AI tools in the preparation of this article.
Recommended Citation
Balasingham, B., & Minichová, S. (2024). The DSA’s Crisis Response Mechanism and the Indispensability of Social Media Networks. Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 17(30), 127-153. https://doi.org/10.7172/1689-9024.YARS.2024.17.30.5
First Page
127
Last Page
153
Page Count
27
Received Date
26.02.2024
Accepted Date
08.11.224
DOI
10.7172/1689-9024.YARS.2024.17.30.5
JEL Code
K20, K21, O34
Publisher
University of Warsaw
