Verizon to Ireland: take it easy on the Digital Services Act

Last week, I had a piece in the Sunday Independent about how Verizon Media was lobbying the Irish government about the forthcoming Digital Services Act from the EU.

The multinational argued to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation that it should try to twist the arms of its European counterparts to water down the proposal and break down the various provisions into different silos, rather than a sweeping set of digital rules in one go.

The comments were part of a wider consultation with the department. Most of the responses to the consultation came from business groups like Ibec as well as the CCPC. Facebook submitted a filing that was a condensed version of the lengthy paper it submitted to the European Commission during the summer.

Verizon Media on the other hand had much more specific requests for Ireland to back up its stance on the DSA in Europe.

Lobbying in Brussels, especially by Big Tech, has ramped up this year as companies try to shape the DSA in their image. There’s a lot up for grabs and one thing of particular interest is the country of origin provision — in which member state liability is held. Verizon is very keen to keep the country of origin rules intact as they are. This could yet emerge as a bone of contention down the line with France reportedly pushing for it to be scrapped.