Governing AI and content moderation online

the EU regulatory approach and global multistakeholder dynamics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60054/PEU.2025.12.%25p

Abstract

This article examines the key provisions of EU legislation concerning the regulation of online content moderation through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). These provisions, drawn from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the AI Act, are analysed in the context of the established global internet governance framework and the European Union’s specific position on its development, including its foundational values and defining principles. The analysis supports the identification of key risks and challenges to the effective implementation of the EU’s legislative framework and ultimately proposes recommendations to address these issues and support the consistent and rights-based application of the relevant regulations.

References

Article 29 Data Protection Working Party. (2018, February 6). Guidelines on automated individual decision-making and profiling for the purposes of Regulation 2016/679.

Bentzen, N. (2024, December 10). Information integrity online and the European democracy shield (EPRS Briefing No. 767153). European Parliamentary Research Service. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2024)767153

Drake, W. J. (2004). Reframing internet governance discourse: Fifteen baseline propositions. In D. MacLean (Ed.), Internet governance: A grand collaboration (pp. 122–161). United Nations Information and Communication Technology Taskforce.

European Commission. (2022). European declaration on digital rights and principles for the digital decade. Publications Office of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022DC0028

European Commission. (2022, December 14). Commission proposes European declaration on digital rights and principles (Press Release No. IP/22/452). European Commission - Press Corner. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_452

European Commission, & Council of the European Union. (2022, April 25). Declaration for the future of the internet. Publications Office of the European Union. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/declaration-future-internet

European Union. (2012). Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union. Official Journal of the European Union, C 326, 391–407.

Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General data protection regulation). OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, 1–88.

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). OJ L 277, 27.10.2022, 1–102.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Artificial intelligence act). OJ L 2024/1689, 12.7.2024.

Santos, B. de S. (2020). Toward a new legal common sense: Law, globalization, and emancipation (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

United Nations. (2024, September 22). Global digital compact. Office of the Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology. https://www.un.org/digital-emerging-technologies/global-digital-compact

U.S. Department of Commerce. (1997). A framework for global electronic commerce.

Working Group on Internet Governance. (2005). Report of the working group on internet governance. United Nations. https://www.wgig.org/docs/WGIGREPORT.pdf

Downloads

Published

2025-11-07

Issue

Section

Third panel: DIS/INFORMATION AND ONLINE PLATFORMS IN THE EU