On 13 November, the day of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) hearing in Technius v Commission, ARTICLE 19 urges the Court to dismiss Technius’ attempt to overturn stricter rules applied to its platform Stripchat. We argue that platforms of this size can have a major impact on users and society and must therefore meet stronger responsibilities under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) to reduce harm and protect fundamental rights.
The case concerns Technius’ request to annul the European Commission’s decision designating its service, Stripchat, a popular adult video platform and social networking site, as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the DSA. This designation subjects Stripchat to enhanced due diligence obligations, including in relation to the protection of fundamental rights.
Under the DSA, online services with more than 45 million users in the EU must follow additional safety and transparency rules because their size gives them major influence over public discourse. Technius has argued, among other things, that Stripchat does not pose the systemic risks the DSA seeks to address.
Commenting on Technius v. Commission, Chantal Joris, Senior Legal Officer at ARTICLE 19, said:
‘One of the main goals of the DSA is to protect users’ fundamental rights, including freedom of expression. The systemic risk provisions in Articles 34 and 35 are central to that vision. This case presents an important opportunity for the Court to clarify the purpose of the DSA and the role of enhanced due diligence obligations for VLOPs.’
Martin Husovec, legal counsel for ARTICLE 19, said:
‘The Court has a unique chance to put an end to the strategy of some technology companies seeking to judicially reverse the changes brought about by the DSA before the law is enforced.’
ARTICLE 19 intervened in this case. In our intervention, we argued that the DSA does not empower regulators to make categorical, ex-ante determinations as to whether a VLOP’s specific systems and processes pose a systemic risk and, on that basis, exclude platforms exceeding the user threshold from their obligations. The responsibility for risk assessment lies with the platforms themselves, subject to the Commission’s oversight.
We further submit that a platform such as Stripchat is inherently capable of posing the types of systemic risks the DSA seeks to address. These include risks to freedom of expression – both because content moderation rules and practices on adult sites may unduly restrict users’ expression, and because tech-facilitated gender-based violence and similar forms of abuse often serve to silence women’s voices.