IRIS newsletter 2025-2

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

 

© 2025 European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg (France)

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

 

Editorial

To regulate or not to regulate: that seems to be the question these days. While strong voices from the other side of the pond advocate a new era of laissez-faire, Europe continues (at least for the moment) to take up its legislative arms against a sea of troubles. The European Commission recently issued guidelines on AI, clarifying the types of AI systems that pose unacceptable risks and are therefore prohibited. It also endorsed two codes of conduct, on disinformation and on illegal hate speech online. Almost simultaneously, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on content moderation on social media to safeguard freedom of expression. Earlier this year, the Commission partnered in an initiative aimed to build a safer and more responsible gaming environment.

All in all, there are many resources to learn from, make progress and be well equipped to continue on this journey. National examples can also be inspiring.

The beginning of the year has also seen several important developments, such as in Czechia, where the Czech Film Fund was transformed into the Czech Audiovisual Fund, also introducing changes to the financial obligations of VOD services. Likewise, Germany also updated its film funding landscape. In Latvia, the government approved amendments to the copyright law to combat internet piracy, allowing the regulator to restrict access to websites that illegally publish copyrighted content. In Ireland, new rules implementing a watershed schedule for alcohol advertising recently came into force.

 

Enjoy the read!

Maja Cappello, Editor

European Audiovisual Observatory

International

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in a judgment of 7 January 2025, found that the Armenian authorities have failed to protect the applicant's right to privacy and reputation (Article 8 ECHR) in a case about LGBT rights. It also found a breach of Article 14 ECHR (prohibition of discrimination) in protecting homophobic hate speech under the right to freedom of expression and information as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The case concerns media articles offensively targeting the applicants, activists for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender...

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On 30 January 2025, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on “Regulating content moderation on social media to safeguard freedom of expression.” Content moderation is a complex issue, and pressure on social media companies to remove illegal and harmful content, and cooperate with public authorities in the fight against war propaganda, disinformation and hate speech, may result in overly cautious moderation and the removal of legal content. It is therefore crucial that any regulatory intervention in this domain does not have unintended consequences...

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found a violation by the Russian state of the right to freedom of expression and information as protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The case concerns repeated disruptions of film screenings being held within the framework of an international Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) film festival. The ECtHR found that the Russian authorities and, in particular, the police did not take any relevant action to investigate successive telephone bomb threats, nor did they try to stop the people that were disrupting...

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgment on 3 December 2024 concerning allegations of the Russian state’s inadequate response to incidents of homophobic speech. Four applicants alleged that the Russian authorities failed to comply with their duty under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to protect them from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. The ECtHR found a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in combination with Article 8 ECHR (right to privacy) with regard to the unsuccessful legal actions against the homophobic...

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EUROPEAN UNION

According to Article 45(2) of the Digital Services Act (DSA), codes of conduct may be drawn up tospecifically address significant systemic risks. These risks include “any actual or foreseeable negative effects on civic discourse and electoral processes, and public security” (Article 34(1) subparagraph 2 (c) of the DSA). One type of “negative impacts of systemic risks on society and democracy” (Recital 104 of the DSA) is disinformation. A voluntary code of practice already existed on this subject. As a self-regulatory instrument, it was established in 2018 and strengthened...

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The AdWiseOnline campaign was launched on 6 January 2025. It is the result of a partnership between the DG CONNECT and DG JUST policy frameworks, European Safer Internet Centres and European Consumer Centres, within the framework of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) initiative. The campaign aims to raise awareness of manipulative practices and children's consumer rights by informing parents, guardians, educators and policy makers about specific manipulative digital marketing, gaming and consumer practices targeting children and young people especially. It focuses on in-game marketing tactics,...

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The prohibition of AI practices such as harmful manipulation, social scoring, and real-time remote biometric identification, among others, has applied since 2 February 2025.  These practices are prohibited since they present threats to European values and fundamental rights. On 4 February 2025, the European Commission adopted guidelines to provide insights into the Commission’s interpretation of the prohibitions. The guidelines are non-binding.  The guidelines explain that the prohibition of manipulative AI techniques also supports the objectives of the Audiovisual Media...

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Known as the “Code of Conduct+”, this code builds on the initial 2016 code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online. This revised version was incorporated into the Digital Services Act (DSA) on 20 January 2025 under Article 45 of the DSA, to facilitate compliance with and the effective enforcement of the DSA in the area of illegal hate speech content, including new measures to address the most recent challenges and threats. For the purposes of the code, all conduct defined as hate speech, both in the national laws transposing the Framework Decision and in any other...

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NATIONAL

The revised Audiovisual Act took effect on 1 January 2025, allowing for the transformation of the Czech Film Fund into the Czech Audiovisual Fund.  This transformation expands the fund’s scope, allowing for support for diverse forms of content, including series and video games, in addition to films. The new act introduces changes to the financial obligations for on-demand audiovisual media services. VOD service providers present in or targeting Czechia will be required to pay a fee based on their total revenues in Czechia to the Czech Audiovisual Fund, to be divided between a levy...

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On 18 December 2024, the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media – KJM), acting on behalf of four state media authorities, i.e. Landesanstalt für Medien Nordrhein-Westfalen (North-Rhine Westphalia media authority – LfM NRW), Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (Bavarian new media authority – BLM), Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg media authority – mabb) and Medienanstalt Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate media authority), ordered Germany’s most powerful telecommunications companies...

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On 19 December 2024, the German Bundestag passed an amendment to film funding law. The new Gesetz über Maßnahmen zur Förderung des deutschen Films (Law on measures to promote the German film industry – FFG) of 23 December 2024 came into force on 1 January 2025, replacing the version previously adopted in 2016. The main innovations concern the introduction of a reference model for the funding of film production and distribution, as well as a partially automated project funding scheme for the cinema sector. The Filmförderungsanstalt (German Federal Film Promotion Agency...

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At their conference on 12 December 2024, the heads of government of the German federal states adopted an amended version of the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (State Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media – JMStV), which will be transposed through the Sechste Medienänderungsstaatsvertrag (Sixth State Treaty Amending the State Media Treaty). Key innovations include new obligations for operating systems to incorporate youth protection measures and new powers for the state media authorities to enforce the law, especially in the online sector, including by improving...

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On 29 January, the Spanish Minister for Culture decided to suspend the adoption of the decree on extended collective licences for generative AI in order to initiate dialogue with the cultural sector after numerous stakeholders in the audiovisual sector expressed opposition and concerns. Those affected by the decree fear a real threat to copyright or an attempt by tech firms to interfere in the regulation of the use of works. The draft decree was in line with EU Directive 2019/790, which authorises member states to establish extended collective licences for the mass exploitation of cultural works...

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On 3 April 2023, Kanra Publishing France, owner of the quarterly magazine Playboy, lodged a complaint with the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (the French audiovisual regulator – ARCOM) after the television service BFM TV, broadcast photographs and excerpts from an interview with Marlène Schiappa, who held a government post at the time, a few days before publication of the magazine for which they were intended, without the consent of the holders of the rights to the publication and its content. After ARCOM rejected the complaint,...

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The provider of the C8 TV channel asked the Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) to annul the decision issued by the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (the French audiovisual regulator – ARCOM) on 21 June 2023 fining it EUR 120,000 for programmes broadcast in 2022 and EUR 80,000 for programmes broadcast in 2023 that had breached the ban on surreptitious advertising. Article 9 of the decree of 27 March 1992, issued in accordance with Articles 27 and 33 of the Law of 30 September 1986 laying down the general principles defining the...

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On 14 January 2025, the High Court delivered a significant judgment in Getty Images (US) Inc. and Others v. Stability AI Ltd. (the Case). The Case concerns the alleged infringement of copyright materials used in the training of artificial intelligence (AI) models. The High Court determined that the sixth claimant could not bring a representative claim for a large number of copyright holders given that the parties had not been fully identified whilst each rights holder had different licensing rights with the claimants meaning that each case would have to be determined on its own merits making...

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On 23 January 2025, the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, imposed a GBP 7 000 fine on UK-based video-sharing platform (VSP) MintStars for failing to adequately protect minors from explicit content. The regulator determined that the platform’s safeguards, relying on user self-declaration and disclaimers, were insufficient under the Communications Act 2003. Ofcom’s investigation and findings Earlier on 27 February 2024, Ofcom launched an investigation into MintStars to determine whether it had complied with its statutory obligations under Part 4B of the Communications...

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On 17 December 2024, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (in conjunction with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Intellectual Property Office) presented to parliament an open consultation paper (the Consultation) about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and copyright. The Consultation poses 47 questions and participants have until 25 February 2025 to comment. The Consultation reflects the significance of the UK creative industries and their contribution to the UK economy suggesting that the creative industries contribute GBP 124.8 billion to the...

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Part of the Public Health Alcohol Act (PHAA – the Act) came into force on 10 January 2025, seven years after it was signed into law on 17 October 2018. In particular, section 19 of the Act introduces a watershed ban for alcohol advertisement. In this sense, alcohol advertisements cannot be shown on television between 3 a.m. and 9 p.m., nor can they be broadcast on the radio on a weekday between 3 p.m. and 10 a.m the following day. These new measures were among certain revisions introduced into the Act, and which followed the introduction of a ban on alcohol advertising in or on a...

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On 22 January 2025, AGCOM (Italy’s communications authority and Digital Services Coordinator, see IRIS 2023-9:1/11) approved its first resolution (26/25/CONS) recognising the categorisation of trusted flagger pursuant to Article 22 (see IRIS 2024-8:1/18) of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Specifically, this designation was granted to Argo Business Solutions S.r.l., which will be responsible for reporting illegal content to online platform providers. The focus will primarily be on violations of intellectual property and other commercial rights, as well as addressing online fraud and scams. Under...

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Amendments to the Latvian Copyright Law were adopted on 12 December 2024, and came into force on 11 January 2025. These amendments to the Copyright Law expand the powers of the National Electronic Mass Media Council (the Council – NEMMC) to monitor the use of copyright and related rights objects in the online environment and to restrict access to websites where these objects are published without proper authorisation. The Copyright Law is supplemented with Chapter XI, which establishes the procedure for restricting access to websites where copyrighted or related rights objects are illegally...

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The prime-time news on Portugal's main free-to-air television channels tends to favour news on political and international topics. A recent report issued by the Portuguese Media Regulatory Agency on pluralism and diversity in television news has also found that the most viewed cable TV channel prioritises news on internal affairs. While the public broadcaster's main TV channel adds sports to the top three most important topics, the other two commercial channels prefer internal affairs. As for the second public TV channel, cultural topics constitute the main thrust of the coverage. Although...

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On 13 January 2025, the Ukrainian media regulator – the National Council on Broadcasting – called on media actors to observe ethical and journalistic standards when covering the Russian-Ukrainian war. It recalled that, in early 2025, a number of Ukrainian media and media actors disseminated a video taken from the Russian propaganda channel on Telegram. It was a graphic depiction of hand-to-hand combat between between a Ukrainian soldier and a Russian storm trooper, as a result of which the Ukrainian died. In addition, local journalists published information about the identity of the...

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