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The Flemish Media Regulator (VRM) recently published a report on the impartiality of news reporting by VRT, the public broadcaster of the Flemish Community of Belgium. The report was drawn up at the VRM’s request by the University of Antwerp’s Media, Middenveld en Politiek (Media, Civil Society and Politics – M²P) unit. The report is based on monitoring of television news, current affairs and election programmes broadcast by VRT during 2024 and compares the results with those of the private broadcaster VTM. The monitoring exercise covered the news programmes available...

Belgium's digital services coordinator (DSC) and other authorities responsible for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act – DSA) recently published their first joint report, covering the year 2024. The Belgian DSC is the Institut belge des services postaux et des télécommunications (Belgian postal and telecommunications authority – IBPT), which is also one of the competent authorities alongside the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish media regulator – VRM), the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (Higher Audiovisual...

In a decision of 27 March 2025, the Collège d'autorisation et de contrôle (authorisation and supervision panel) of the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory body – CSA) announced that it did not consider it appropriate to sanction the broadcaster Be TV SA for “failing to fulfil its obligations to broadcast audiovisual works of French-speaking Belgian origin, in breach of Article 4.2.2-1, § 1 of the decree on audiovisual media and video-sharing services”. In its decision, the panel stated that, in its opinion no. 100/2024...

On 26 February 2025 the Belgian Federal Parliament (Chamber of Representatives, Commission of Justice) started the process of introducing a bill in order to transpose the Anti-SLAPP Directive 2024/1069 of 11 April 2024 on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings (IRIS 2024-3:1/5). The bill was submitted by the Green Party and Ecolo on 18 February 2025, and is currently under discussion in the Commission of Justice, before being referred to a plenary session in parliament for the final vote. The EU Anti-SLAPP Directive...

Belgium has adopted the final measures required to implement Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market for Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act). As previously announced (IRIS 2024-3:1/26), a legal instrument of federal cooperation, known as a “cooperation agreement”, needed to enter into force. However, this process was delayed on account of the federal and regional elections held on 9 June 2024. All the parliamentary assemblies of the political entities that signed the cooperation...