Brussels, 15^th December 2020 – Creativity Works!, a leading European coalition of the creative and cultural industries, sees the Digital Services Act (DSA) as a unique opportunity to ensure a safe, trustworthy and respectful online environment for consumers and businesses alike.

“All online players need to act responsibly for the online ecosystem to flourish and benefit everyone – society, consumers and businesses. The DSA is a unique opportunity to translate the declaration “What is illegal offline is also illegal online” into concrete actions”, said Laura Houlgatte, Chair of Creativity Works!.

Those who claim that the relaxation of existing rules or that some special accommodation with those rules is needed are the ones who should be held accountable for illegal content. Digital services do not require any incentivisation to act against such content. They just need clear obligations to protect users, citizens, consumers and businesses from illegal activities.

Laura Houlgatte, Chair of Creativity Works!, added: “We are not asking for the impossible – the DSA should remind everyone of respectful business practices. Online intermediaries need to know who is operating on their sites (i.e. their business customers); illegal content has to be removed swiftly and effectively; and platforms need to put in place and enforce policies for repeat offenders”.

The Digital Services Act will benefit citizens if:

• The liability provisions of the E-Commerce directive are strengthened, not weakened;
• The declaration “What is illegal offline is also illegal online” is translated into concrete actions;
• The scope of “Know Your Business Customer” obligations is broad enough to protect all businesses and consumers from illegal conduct

A robust co-regulatory framework, backed by a “co-regulatory backstop”, is also needed to tackle disinformation as foreseen by the European Democracy Action Plan adopted on 3^rd December.

We call on the European Parliament and the Council to bear these key objectives in mind when reviewing the DSA proposal and look forward to working with the European institutions towards achieving these objectives.