European regulators will cooperate more closely to protect fundamental values online
When it comes to protecting minors and taking measures against hate and incitement on the Internet, the current regulation of audiovisual services is increasingly reaching its limits. If audiovisual content is distributed beyond a single state, for example via online platforms, enforcing the law in the event of violations proves challenging for national media regulators.
Discussing possible solutions and developing a joint approach for prosecuting cross-border infringements was one of the aims of the conference held by the media institutions together with the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) in Brussels on April 11. Under the title "Safeguarding European Core Values Online," the focus was on how European core values can also be protected on the Internet and how cross-border cooperation between stakeholders - regulators, legislators and industry - can be improved.
"For all the changes that convergence and globalization bring, there is always the constant of European core values such as human dignity, protection of minors, diversity and consumer protection. These are not disposable - protecting them is the task of the European media authorities, to which we are jointly committed," said Dr. Tobias Schmid, European Affairs Officer of the Directors' Conference of the State Media Authorities.
The representatives of the regulatory authorities took the opportunity to report on their national experiences and 'best cases'. There was agreement that the country-of-origin principle remains an important cornerstone of European media regulation, even in cases beyond traditional television. At the same time, cross-border cooperation is to be further strengthened in order to meet the legal challenges of digitization more quickly and effectively.
Against the backdrop of the current reform of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the guests also discussed the future of media regulation in Europe. Content providers such as the RTL media group and a YouTuber contributed their perspectives to the discussion, as did intermediaries such as Google and infrastructure operators such as British Telecom. They called for clear and future-proof regulations.
Source: press release the media institutions 03/18
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