A new legislation of the media release in the European Union (EU) will fully enter into force on August 8

On Friday, August 8, the European Media Media Freedom Act, EMFA), which devotes the principle of information as a public good and promotes the freedom, independence and pluralism of the internal market will be fully in force.

The new regulations are fully in effect on August 8. Photo shutterstock

Digitalization and globalization have revolutionized the media sector, allowing the public to have access to a more diversified offer through digital platforms, eliminating national borders, the European Commission shows.

However, the aforementioned context also created new challenges. Global platforms such as social networks and streaming services have acquired a significant power on the distribution of content, becoming the main intermediaries between the media and the public. This new environment depends on algorithms and internal policies that can affect the plurality of information and favors dissemination of misinformation. In addition, the increasing concentration of advertising revenues in the hands of these platforms endangered the economic sustainability of many traditional media.

Against the backdrop of this situation and claiming that editorial freedom and independence and media power as important actors in the democratic system must be protected, the EU has adopted this new common framework in order to harmonize the norms at European level. Although the legislation on the media is primarily a national competence, the Commission has justified its legislation in this area under Article 114 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. It allows the EU to adopt measures to approach the provisions of the Member States regarding the establishment and functioning of the internal market.

The text regulates the provision of media services throughout the Union, in order to create an integrated market to protect the media pluralism, limit the excessive concentration of property, combat misinformation and prevent interference, both public and private, political or economic, in the editorial activity of the media.

With the full entry into force of the new legislation, editorial decisions will benefit from better protection against unjustified interference and pressures and, in the case of public media, journalists will have the guarantee that their employer has access to adequate, sustainable and predictable finances, in accordance with their public service mission.

EMFA also provides solid guarantees for the confidentiality of sources, including the use of intrusive surveillance software against journalists and those in professional relationships with journalists.

Great online platforms also make the subject of this regulation

The European Regulation on the freedom of mass media (Law 8470/2024) applies to all media providers in the European and private European Union – television, radios, publications and digital means, such as podcasts and audiovisual services. Also, video sharing platforms and big online platforms, even if they do not have direct editorial responsibility, also make the object of this regulation. These platforms play an essential role in organizing the media content and can influence the exposure of certain topics or news, which justifies their inclusion in the regulation.

Combats misinformation and undue interference

The Regulation on the freedom of the press, presented by the European Commission on September 16, 2022, was adopted on March 26, 2024, after a year and a half negotiations, marking an important stage in the harmonization of the media regulations in the European Union and offering a framework that promotes freedom, independence and plurality of mass-media and combats disinformation and interference.

The main provisions of EMFA

EMFA introduces several new elements in the legal regime applicable to the media sector, some of which are the following:

Transparency of property in the media: Media companies should make public the identity of their owners and any person or entities that have a significant control over the decision -making process (including both direct owners and those who have a significant participation, such as investor groups). In addition, information on income sources should be provided, clearly emphasizing whether to receive funding from government entities or benefit from state advertising. In order to ensure transparency in this regard, the corresponding national authority of each Member State will have to create an accessible database to the public to be published this information.

Protection of editorial independence: Strict guarantees are introduced to ensure that the media retains its independence in terms of editorial decisions, protecting journalists from external interference. In this sense, control and surveillance mechanisms, such as internal and external audits, are provided, to ensure that the content is not manipulated, as well as sanctions for those who do not comply with these norms.

Measurement of the audience: The norms for the audience measurement systems in all mass communication, both traditional and digital, are unified. The systems must be transparent and verifiable, ensuring that the results do not favor any means or information platform.

State advertising regulation: A specific regulation is introduced to oblige governments and public entities to ensure that the advertising allocation is not used as a mechanism for influencing the editorial line of mass media. In this way, decisions regarding the distribution of state advertising should be transparent and based on objective criteria.

Protection of journalistic sources: In order to protect investigative journalism, minimal standards are introduced for the protection of journalistic sources and confidential communications.

Any attempt to obtain information about a source or intercept communications must be justified by an imperative reason for public interest and authorized by an independent judicial authority.

The right to customize the media offers: Users have the right to easily change settings, including default settings, any device or user interface that control or manage the access and use of media services offered by programs, to personalize the media offer in accordance with their interests or preferences. Manufacturers, developers and importers should ensure that these devices allow this customization to be freely available, visible and accessible at any time. In addition, they should ensure that the visual identity of the means of information accessed by these devices is clear and coherent.

Setting up a European media: An independent advisory body is established at the EU level, which brings together the national regulatory authorities and will coordinate and monitor the correct application of the European Massion Freedom Regulation in all Member States.

The freedom to improve the regulations: Member States may adopt more detailed or stricter rules in the regulated areas, provided that the respective rules ensure a higher level of protection of media pluralism or editorial independence, in accordance with EMFA and respect the law of the Union.

Other European rules regulating the media in the European Union

Directive on Audiovisual Massy-Media Services (SMAV) coordinates the regulation of audiovisual media at national level. Revised in 2018, it lists the conditions that the Member States must guarantee for their regulatory authorities: independence from public authorities, impartiality, transparency, responsibility, resources, appointment and dismissal procedures and appeal mechanisms.

European Copyright Directiveadopted in 2019, regulates literary and artistic property. It has introduced a related right, which rewards the media when their articles are reused by online news aggregators, such as Google News. The European competition norms guarantee that, in the press sector, as in other sectors, no actor holds the monopoly. However, they do not directly address the consequences of merger on pluralism and media independence and do not regulate the allocation of state resources.

The law on digital services (DSA), End in force in August 2023, it obliges the platforms to eliminate the illegal content online, including when it comes from the media. A code of practices against misinformation encourages platforms and social networks to collaborate with the media to guarantee the quality of the content they publish.

European Anti-Slapp Directive It represents another step undertaken by the EU in the direction of protecting the press. It is about a mechanism meant to provide increased procedural guarantees to people who are expressed openly in relation to issues of public interest (in general, journalists and defenders of human rights) and who are targeted by clearly unfounded or abusive judicial procedures. These judicial procedures known as the generic strategic actions against public mobilization (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, SLAPP), represent a recent, but more widespread phenomenon.

The purpose of SLAPP is to harass, to censure, to intimidate and to silence the people who expose information of public interest, through different behaviors who can take the form of clearly excessive financial claims or by burdding to them with numerous and complex dispute to opposition. The European Anti-Slapp Directive entered into force on May 20, 2024, after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Member States have the obligation to transpose it into national legislation until May 7, 2026.