Protecting media content on social media platforms in the EU

In recent years, accessibility and findability of media content online have become increasingly determined by social media platforms’ content moderation and content curation practices. Media organizations, contrary to social media, are subject to compliance with editorial standards, and regulatory scrutiny from national (media) regulators. Yet, they experience removals and restrictions of their accounts and editorial content because of the breach of social media platforms’ terms of service. This situation, together with the concerns over the decline of media diversity and pluralism online, has prompted the EU policy-makers to address the status quo. In this chapter, we explain social media platforms’ duties towards media content imposed by EU regulation. Section 1.1 explains the value of freedom and pluralism of the media under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) while Section 1.2 looks at how social media platforms’ impact media freedom. Section 2 focuses on the EU’s relevant regulations: the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) and. In particular, Section 2.1 explores the “must carry”-like provisions of the EMFA, and Section 2.2 analyses the DSA duties that require online platforms to protect media content against content moderation practices by putting in place procedural measures. Then, Section 2.3 explores obligations that require social media platforms to prioritize or give prominence to public interest content. Section 3 highlights the inconsistencies between different EU regulatory measures to protect and promote media content on social media platforms. Finally, Section 4 offers conclusions.