A new report published this week by the DSA Human Rights Alliance, The Principles for a Human Rights-Centred Application of the DSA: A Global Perspective, calls on the European Commission and national authorities to put human rights at the centre of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) enforcement. The report outlines practical steps to ensure that DSA implementation is informed by diverse perspectives and grounded in international human rights standards.

What is the DSA?

The European Union’s DSA aims to create a safer, more transparent, and accountable online environment that respects the fundamental rights of citizens and consumers. It entered into force in 2022 and applies to all platforms and online intermediaries in the EU, with stricter rules set for very large online platforms and search engines (VLOPSEs). Enforcement is now gathering pace, with the European Commission, as the main DSA enforcer for VLOPSEs, announcing a growing number of investigations.

What is the DSA Human Rights Alliance?

Founded in 2021 by EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) and Access Now, the DSA Human Rights Alliance works to ensure that the EU’s approach to platform governance is grounded in human rights. It brings together diverse voices from around the globe to inform DSA enforcement and to assess how the DSA is shaping tech regulation worldwide. One of the alliance’s 30 members, Liberties supports the adoption of its principles.

Why does this matter?

Now that the law is moving from adoption to enforcement, its real impact depends not only on what the DSA says on paper, but on how it is interpreted and applied in practice. While the DSA formally applies only in the EU, its rules, norms, and enforcement actions have effects far beyond Europe. Known as the ‘Brussels Effect’, the EU’s regulatory capacity can serve as a model for other states, as well as force platform operators to implement European rules in other countries for efficiency reasons.

Therefore, the DSA being held to strict human rights standards could have effects beyond Europe. By promoting a human rights-centred, inclusive and transparent approach, the EU could set new norms and continue being a global regulatory benchmark-setter.

This is why the Alliance advocates for the adoption of the following principles:

• Global perspectives should be integrated into the implementation process of the DSA, which should put human rights at its centre
• The EU should acknowledge the effects DSA enforcement can have outside of the bloc, as well as within (e.g. incoherence across its member states)
• Both EU and non-EU civil society, and the users of online platforms, should be empowered to pursue DSA enforcement actions
• Thus, the EU should actively promote the collaboration of civil society organisations on platform regulation – both across Europe’s regions and beyond
• Human rights-centred DSA enforcement requires institutionalised dialogue between stakeholders inside and outside of the EU to truly acknowledge the global ramifications of the legislation
• Enforcement abuse, through politicisation within member states or other ways, must be avoided, and global experiences with trusted flaggers included
• The alliance urges the EU to recognise international human rights monitoring’s dependence on DSA transparency provisions and data access

Adding our voice to the DSA Human Rights Alliance’s campaign, Liberties calls on the European Union to consider and include these principles in its future enforcement strategy of the DSA.

Similarly, Liberties seeks to reach lawmakers beyond Europe with its call, and urges regulators globally to consider a human-rights based platform regulation and enforcement as the most vital approach to hold online platforms accountable and protect civic and political discourse. As elections are coming up in the EU and elsewhere, implementing these principles is an urgent task.