EC Revealed DSA Guidelines for Election Online Risks

The European Commission published guidelines on recommended measures for Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines to mitigate systemic online risks that may impact elections' integrity. The EC issued specific guidance for the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.

Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), designated services with more than 45 million active users in the EU should mitigate the risks related to electoral processes, while safeguarding fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of expression. These guidelines recommend mitigation measures and best practices to be undertaken by Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines before, during, and after electoral events.

Platforms must reinforce their internal processes to search and obtain information before, during, and after elections, to improve their mitigation measures. They must also implement elections-specific risk mitigation measures tailored to each electoral period and local context. The EC said platforms must also adopt specific mitigation measures linked to generative AI, cooperate with EU-level and national authorities, independent experts, and civil society organizations to foster an efficient exchange of information before, during, and after the election, and facilitate adequate mitigation measures.

VLOPs are also obliged to adopt specific measures, including an incident response mechanism, during an electoral period to reduce the impact of incidents that could have a significant effect on the election outcome or turnout. Finally, they have to assess the effectiveness of the measures through post-election reviews.

The guidelines include specific measures ahead of the upcoming European elections. Given their unique cross-border and European dimension, Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines should ensure that sufficient resources and risk mitigation measures are available and distributed in a way that is proportionate to the risk assessments.

The guidelines take into account the input received from the public consultation launched by the Commission on 8 February 2024. The EC also cooperated with Digital Services Coordinators in the framework of the European Board for Digital Services on the guidelines. The guidelines also encourage third-party scrutiny and research into mitigation measures to ensure that the measures put in place are effective and respect fundamental rights.

To add an element of readiness, the Commission plans a stress test with relevant stakeholders at the end of April to exercise the most effective use of the instruments and the cooperative mechanisms that have been put in place.