The Agency hereby informs the interested public that the European Digital Services Board, comprising the regulators responsible for implementing the Digital Services Act (DSA), at its regular meeting held in Brussels on 1 July 2026, adopted the second annual report on systemic risks, prepared in cooperation with the European Commission pursuant to Article 35 of the DSA. This is the second report as part of the systemic risk monitoring process established by last year’s report.
The report provides a structured and evidence-based overview of the systemic risks that may arise from the design or operation of very large online platforms and search engines (VLOPSE) and from the use of their services – including the dissemination of illegal content and threats to users’ fundamental rights. This year’s report places particular emphasis on the protection of children and young people online: the risks identified include addictive behaviour on social media, exposure to harmful content, including dangerous online challenges and age-inappropriate content, and harmful behaviour such as cyberbullying and online grooming.
The report also provides an overview of the measures platforms are implementing to mitigate these risks, such as tools allowing users to customise the functioning of recommendation systems, and programmes to protect public figures from the misuse of their image through generative artificial intelligence for fraudulent purposes. The report is based on the platforms’ own risk assessments, audits and transparency reports, as well as independent research and contributions from civil society organisations.
At the meeting, the Committee also discussed the latest activities of digital services coordinators in individual Member States and the European Commission. It also discussed progress in ensuring access to data for verified researchers; to date, the coordinators have received 77 applications for such access, and are supporting the processing of these applications by organising workshops and publishing additional guidelines.
The meeting was followed, for the first time, by a joint meeting of the Digital Services Committee and the European Media Services Committee, attended by representatives of national digital services coordinators and national media regulators. They discussed the protection of minors online and the safeguarding of media freedom and pluralism within the framework of the Digital Services Act, the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), as well as the interplay between these three pieces of legislation. The committees exchanged views on their cooperation and coordination to date and agreed on how to further strengthen these in the future.
Further information is available in the official press release.
