CE brings Portugal to court for failing total application of the Digital Services Law

The European Commission (CE) announced Wednesday to have taken Portugal to the Court of Justice of the European Union for not all the new digital services law. Portugal did not confer supervisors powers or defined rules on sanctions.

Under the May infringement package, released today, the community executive announced that he filed a lawsuit to the European Union Court (EU) against Portugal, Czech Republic, Spain, Cyprus and Poland for “lack of effective application of the digital services law”.

In concrete, Portugal and the other countries go to court “for not having designated and/or qualified a national coordinator of digital services under the legislative act on digital services”.

The EU digital services law, adopted in 2022, aims to create a safer and more transparent online environment. The legislation establishes more rigorous rules for large digital platforms that operate in the community space, such as Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok social networks.

The new legislation requires the removal of illegal and harmful content by these platforms, and in this context, EU Member States had until February 17 to designate a national coordinator with the task of ensuring effective supervision and application of the rules.