Towards Coherent Rules on the Prominence of Media Content on Online Platforms and Digital Devices

As the information environment gets more and more saturated and citizens change their consumption patterns towards digital services and devices, policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned about the prominence of general interest content. As a result, rules directly and indirectly linked to the prominence or discoverability of general interest content have been developed in the last few years. These provisions, however, have been scattered across different legislative instruments, creating a piecemeal approach.

In this new CERRE Tech, Media, and Telecom issue paper, Research Fellow Michèle Ledger maps the provisions related to prominence at EU and state level, looking at the cases of Germany, France, Italy, and the UK to engage in a critical reflection and provide recommendations on how to arrive at a more coherent framework.

Using the Council of Europe (CoE) Guidance Note on the Prioritisation of Public Interest Content Online as a benchmark, the issue paper examines the different national rules derived from Article 7a of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive as well as other EU-level provisions such as those applicable to intermediaries. Overall, the mapping reveals a piecemeal approach, with rules spread across various legislative instruments that create a complex situation for all concerned parties.

The paper recommends a more systematic application of the CoE guidelines at the EU and national levels. Article 7a should be further detailed to include rules of procedure or clarifying the role of independent regulators. It could also be further specified whether only designated services should be given appropriate prominence or if disaggregated content of service providers could also be prominently displayed.

The Issue Paper was presented and debated on 22 March 2024, during the CERRE public event “Navigating European rules on prominence of general interest content”.