SAA - Society of Audiovisual Authors

Ever since their emergence in the years 2000, online services have grown at an unexpected speed into tentacular businesses capable of shaping the information and media environment and dictating the way content -any content- is provided and shared. They have also contributed to the transformation of the digital sphere and have turned it into public spaces which they hold control over. Therefore, in order to ensure a safe and fair digital environment, it is paramount that such powerful players be regulated and submitted to a specific liability regime. In the audiovisual sector for instance, the exploitation of works by digital services has considerably increased to the detriment of traditional players like cinemas, broadcasters and DVDs publishers, whose fragility has been amplified by the current Covid-19 crisis. The transition of viewers’ habits to digital platforms has indeed benefited online services while depriving the audiovisual industry and audiovisual authors from revenues. Additionally, the spread of illegal copyrighted content over the internet has been mainly facilitated by online platforms, who contested for the most part their active role in providing a hosting space for infringements.

In these circumstances, the SAA and its members welcome the adoption of the Digital Services Act proposal (“the Proposal”) and the intention of the Commission to address the role, the liability and the due diligence obligations of online services. However, although the SAA and its members support some aspects of the Proposal as explained hereafter, others remain to be clarified in order to ensure that what is illegal offline is illegal online and that any progress achieved under the Copyright Directive 2019/790 is not jeopardized by a lack of consistency.