Abstract

Very large online platforms have become indispensable infrastructures for the distribution of journalistic content. At the same time, however, they also pose significant challenges to media freedom and pluralism. Journalists and media organizations increasingly report experiences of online harassment, opaque content moderation practices, reduced visibility of journalistic content, and limited opportunities to challenge platform decisions. With the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the European Union has introduced a new regulatory framework that seeks to address these risks by assigning online platforms greater responsibility for safeguarding media freedom. Yet little is currently known about how these mechanisms operate in practice and to what extent media organizations are able to make effective use of them. Their impact ultimately depends on media actors proactively engaging with the procedures established by the platforms and on the platforms responding in a timely and appropriate manner.

Against this backdrop, the project investigates how Austrian media services experience and utilize the mitigation mechanisms introduced under the DSA and EMFA. It asks how familiar media organizations are with the new procedures, whether they consider them accessible and effective, and which barriers they encounter when interacting with very large online platforms. Beyond generating empirical evidence, the project also aims to raise awareness among media organizations about their rights and the opportunities offered by the new European regulatory framework.

The study is based on a nationwide online survey targeting media services across Austria. By collecting systematic evidence from a broad range of news organizations, it seeks to provide the first comprehensive overview of how media services perceive and use platform accountability mechanisms in practice. The findings will contribute both to academic debates on platform governance and cooperative responsibility and to policy discussions on the implementation of European platform regulation. In addition to a stakeholder-oriented report on the Austrian case, the project will produce scholarly publications that lay the groundwork for comparative research across other EU Member States.

Building on the CMC’s long‑standing policy-oriented research on media governance, media freedom, and the role of regulation in democratic communication, the project extends this work to the evolving European framework for platform regulation. By examining the implementation of the DSA and EMFA, it contributes to evidence-informed policymaking on media freedom and platform governance.

Financing

Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH (RTR)

CMC Staff

Tobias Eberwein (Project leader)

Krisztina Rozgonyi

Marina Lindmeyr

Cooperation Partners

Sally Broughton Micova (University of East Anglia)