IRIS newsletter 2025-3

Publisher:

European Audiovisual Observatory
76, allée de la Robertsau
F-67000 STRASBOURG

Tel. : +33 (0) 3 90 21 60 00
E-mail: obs@obs.coe.int
www.obs.coe.int

Comments and Suggestions to: iris@obs.coe.int

Executive Director: Susanne Nikoltchev

Maja Cappello, Editor • Sophie Valais, Amélie Lacourt, Justine Radel, Deputy Editors (European Audiovisual Observatory)

Documentation/Press Contact: Alison Hindhaugh

Tel.: +33 (0)3 90 21 60 10

E-mail: alison.hindhaugh@coe.int

Proofreading of machine translations:

Sabine Bouajaja, European Audiovisual Observatory (co-ordination) • Aurélie Courtinat • Paul Green • Marco Polo Sarl • Nathalie Sturlèse • Erwin Rohwer • Sonja Schmidt • Ulrike Welsch

Proofreading of original texts:

Sabine Bouajaja, European Audiovisual Observatory (co-ordination) • Sophie Valais and Amélie Lacourt • Linda Byrne • David Windsor • Aurélie Courtinat • Barbara Grokenberger

Web Design:

Coordination: Cyril Chaboisseau, European Audiovisual Observatory
ISSN 2078-6158

To promote inclusive language, we follow the guidelines of the Council of Europe.

Editorial

Storks are back en masse in Strasbourg, announcing longer and sunnier days. Or are they?

As the public’s trust in media remains an important challenge in today’s media ecosystem, taking the information one hears with a healthy dose of constructive skepticism is key. You can trust our reporting on the storks though, we can see the nests directly from the Villa.

In Germany, the state media authorities published the results of their 2025 Info-Monitor, detailing users’ various consumption habits and trust (or lack thereof, in some cases) in the media.

Journalists, their work and their working conditions were also at the centre of several recent developments. In the Netherlands, a court ruled in favor of public broadcaster coverage of Polish migrant workers' treatment. Still in the Netherlands, a bill amending the Dutch Criminal Code and proposing to criminalise the sharing of photos and videos of certain victims was recently published. While welcomed by victim support groups, the Bill also raised concerns among journalists to see this being drawn into the criminal domain. Crossing the border, Belgian journalists and whistleblowers are seeing their case advance, with the submission before the Federal Parliament of a bill transposing the Anti-SLAPP Directive.

In DSA-related developments, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets was officially designated as the Dutch Digital Services Coordinator and Italy adopted a new regulation on complaints against providers of intermediary services for infringement of the DSA.

In France, a decree named 17 VSPs established in other EU member states which will have three months to implement an age verification system ensuring their users are of legal age. The national media regulator, Arcom, will be able to fine them and/or block their services in France should they fail to comply.

Enjoy the read!

Maja Cappello, Editor

European Audiovisual Observatory

International

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Romania

European Court of Human Rights: civil liability for publication and hosting of comments on Facebook violates freedom of expression

In a Chamber judgment of 7 January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section) held, unanimously, that Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been violated in the case of Alexandru Pătraşcu v. Romania. The Romanian courts had found Mr Pătraşcu liable under civil law for publishing and hosting a number of unlawful comments on his Facebook page. The impugned comments, which were posted by the applicant himself and by other users, were of a disparaging nature towards particular individuals and were held by the national courts to have...

Belgium

[BE] Bill for the transposition of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive

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...

[DE] Administrative courts rule on access to public broadcasters' election debates

On 5 February 2025, the Verwaltungsgericht Köln (Cologne Administrative Court) ruled in summary proceedings that the leading candidate of the party Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – BSW) for the 2025 Bundestag election did not have to be invited to appear on the pre-election debate programme Wahlarena 2025 zur Bundestagswahl broadcast by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD). On the same day, the Verwaltungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg Administrative Court)...

[DE] Media authorities' Info-Monitor reports on information trends and media trust in Germany

On 6 February 2025, the German state media authorities published the results of their Info-Monitor 2025. This report examines where and how the German population obtains information about current affairs, analyses changes in consumer behaviour, and investigates the level of trust among the population and the trustworthiness of certain information sources in relation to their political standpoint. The results of the study, which is based on surveys of the 14+ age group, show that information habits vary depending on age, level of trust in established media, region and political preferences. The...

[DE] Statute on the regulation of media intermediaries comes into force

The statute on the regulation of media intermediaries (MI statute), which the state media authorities had initially failed to adopt unanimously due to a drafting error, came into force in Germany on 1 January 2025. The statute regulates in detail the provisions and procedures laid down in Articles 91 to 95 of the Medienstaatsvertrag (state media treaty – MStV), which govern media intermediaries. In particular, it covers the transparency requirements and rules on discrimination that apply to media intermediaries in Germany. The MStV defines a media intermediary as any telemedia (essentially...

[DK] New Bill for appointment of members to the board of directors of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation

On 27 February, a bill on a new model for appointing members to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, DR board of directors, was put forward in the Danish parliament. The first treatment in parliament is planned for 20 March. The purpose of the bill is to implement the political agreement on a new appointment model for DR's board, which was reached by a broad majority in the Danish parliament in April 2024. The political agreement is based on recommendations by the Committee on DR's Board of Directors from January 2024. The bill subsequently comes to a consultation process ending in...

[FR] Release window agreement extended as Disney+ and Canal+ pledge their support for French cinema

The decree issued by the Ministry of Culture publishing the release window agreement of 6 February 2025 extends for three years the previous agreement signed in 2022, which has now expired. Although the parties wished to maintain the general principles of the previous agreement, the position of individual broadcasters may change depending on their commitment to film funding. The 2022 agreement, which has now been renewed, shortened the distribution time for films following their release in cinemas to four months for sales and rentals (DVD, VOD, Blu-ray), six months for Canal+ and OCS (compared...

[FR] Seventeen pornographic websites ordered to prevent access by minors

Amended by the Loi visant à sécuriser et réguler l'espace numérique (Law aiming to secure and regulate the digital space) of 21 May 2024, Articles 10 et seq. of the Loi pour la confiance dans l'économie numérique (Law on confidence in the digital economy) gave the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (French audiovisual regulator – ARCOM) the power to impose financial penalties against and block or delist pornographic websites that remain accessible to minors in violation of Article 227-24...

[GE] PARLIAMENT REVIEWS STRICTER RULES ON BROADCASTING AND FOREIGN AGENTS

On 18 March, the Georgian Parliament adopted, in the second reading, a law on the registration of foreign agents, which, according to the Georgian authorities, would be a literal translation into Georgian of the US FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act). The new law will complement the Law of Georgia "On transparency of foreign influence", which entered into force in 2024 (for more information on the Law of Georgia "On transparency of foreign influence", see: IRIS 2023-4:1/30, IRIS 2024-5:1/16, and IRIS 2024-6:1/13). While the 2024 law operates with the notion of an “organisation...

[IE] Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council provides recommendations to Irish Government for adoption of AI policy in Ireland

The newly formed Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advisory Council, established on 17 January 2024 by the Minister of State with responsibility for Digital, was formed to provide independent expert advice and guidance to the Irish Government on AI policy. On 21 February 2025, the AI Advisory Council published a six-point paper entitled “Ireland’s AI Advisory Council Recommendations – Helping to Shape Ireland’s AI Future”. The stated purpose of this paper was to provide recommendations to the Irish Government to accelerate AI adoption, encourage responsible innovation,...

[IT] AGCOM adopts new regulation on complaints against providers of intermediary services for infringement of the DSA

In a board meeting held on 22 January 2025, the Italian Communications Authority (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni – AGCOM) approved a regulation laying down the procedural rules to handle complaints lodged under Article 53 of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The regulation represents an additional regulatory act adopted by AGCOM in its role as Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) for Italy. It should be noted that, under Article 53 of the DSA, recipients of the service and any body, organisation or association mandated to exercise the rights conferred therein on their...

[IT] Online Copyright Protection: AGCOM Launches a Public Consultation on New Anti-Piracy Rules

On February 18, 2025, AGCOM (Italy's communication Authority) initiated a public consultation through Resolution No. 47/25/CONS, set to last for 30 days starting from March 4, 2025, regarding amendments to the regulation on online copyright protection, in force since 2014. (see IRIS 2021-8:1/28, 2020-7:1/26, 2019-2:1/17. 2017-10:1/25, 2017-5:1/ 26, 2023-8:1/11). The initiative aims to strengthen copyright and related rights protection tools in response to recent national and European legislative developments. These include the Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065 – "DSA"),...

[NL] Bill criminalising the sharing of photos and videos of certain victims

On 11 March 2025, a notable bill was published, which would amend the Dutch Criminal Code, and criminalise the publication of images, videos or livestreams, of certain victims of accidents or crimes. The Explanatory Memorandum to the bill notes that such images of victims are often made public and distributed via social media, and that making public such images is a “serious and punishable violation of privacy”. Notably, the offence would carry a possible one-year prison sentence or fine. Under the bill, a new Article 139h of the Criminal Code would be introduced, which would make...

[NL] A Dutch court rules that the public broadcaster complied with journalistic standards when reporting on Polish migrant workers in the Netherlands

On 31 December 2024, the District Court of Central Netherlands ruled that the Dutch public broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) did not act unlawfully by reporting on the treatment of Polish migrant workers by the employment agency IFC Work. The court determined, in particular, that NOS did not overstep the boundaries of media freedom as it fully abided by journalistic standards. The ruling became publicly available on 4 February 2025. The case revolved around a programme titled "Poolse Europarlementariër waarschuwt Polen voor werken in Nederland" (Polish MEP warns...

[NL] Dutch Media Authority intervenes making certain online sports broadcasts free without registration

On 20 January 2025, the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media) announced that, following an investigation, a major Dutch broadcast provider would be making broadcasts of certain sports competitions more easily accessible to the general public, without the creation of specific accounts or the sharing of personal data. The investigation followed VodafoneZiggo acquiring the broadcasting rights to the Champions League and Europa League, which are part of the so-called “events list” under the Dutch Media Act (Mediawet). Events on the events list are of general social interest...

[NL] The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets is officially designated as the Dutch Digital Services Coordinator

On 4 February 2025, Uitvoeringswet digitaledienstenverordening – the Dutch act implementing the Digital Services Act (DSA) – entered into force. Under this legislation, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument & Markt – ACM) was officially designated as the Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) – a national supervisory authority responsible for the effective and consistent supervision and enforcement of the DSA. The ACM will exercise a wide range of investigative and enforcement powers in the Netherlands as well as participating in...