A new EU law now allows complaints about harassing advertisement content and illegal material on social media, but it turns out that many Danes are not aware of this possibility. The EU lead candidate for the Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet), Christel Schaldemose, has highlighted the issue and emphasizes the need to inform the public about their rights. “In my conversations with many, including influencers, it has become clear that most do not know that they can file a complaint to an authority. We need to help citizens complain so that social media platforms can be held accountable under the law,” says Schaldemose.
The new law, known as the DSA (Digital Services Act), introduces a set of rules for digital services, including platforms like Facebook and Instagram owned by Meta. A key part of the law is the establishment of a DSA supervision under the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (Konkurrence- og Forbrugerstyrelsen), which handles complaints from citizens. But according to Schaldemose, there is a significant lack of information about this complaint option, and the complaint form on the authority’s website is not user-friendly.
“I visited the website myself and after answering a few questions, I was told that my problem was not related to the DSA. That’s not fair. People don’t know they can complain, and when they finally do, they are met with confusion. The supervision should make a greater effort, maybe set up a hotline, as the EU law gives us strong tools,” says Schaldemose.
At the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, they acknowledge the criticism. The deputy director of the Authority, Jesper Linaa, states that while they are satisfied with the website and complaint form, there is room for improvement in informing the public. “We have created a website for this purpose, but I agree that we can do more to increase visibility and inform about the complaint options,” says Linaa.
The DSA supervision monitors illegal content on social media and has already sent the first case of fake advertisements to the EU Commission. This happened after a number of Danish TV hosts were used in fraudulent campaigns on social media.