The workshop brought together providers of Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) with stakeholders from civil society organisations and academia, in the presence of the Commission and Digital Services Coordinators (DSCs).
After an introduction in the plenary session, participants were divided into four tracks, each focusing on one systemic risk category: the dissemination of illegal content; risks to civic discourse and elections; risks to the protection of minors and mental health; and risks to consumer protection. Each session of the four tracks was structured around scenarios that depicted different risks and guided the discussion among participants on approaches to identify, analyse, assess, and mitigate specific risks.
The workshop was an opportunity for providers of VLOPs and VLOSEs to explain their risk assessment work to stakeholders and to obtain high-quality feedback and ideas, including on areas of improvement for the ongoing risk assessments, and for future risk assessments. The workshop was also an opportunity for representatives of civil society organisations and researchers to better understand the risk management work of the providers and find out how they can provide well-targeted input and feedback.
The DSA established an unprecedented transparency framework, promoting the accountability of providers of online services. Risk assessment reports constitute an important piece of this architecture and are the main tool for the public to understand how providers of online services, in particular VLOPs and VLOSEs, identify, assess, and mitigate systemic risks stemming from their services.
Later this year, the European Board for Digital Services, in cooperation with the Commission, will publish the first edition of a report on prominent and recurrent systemic risks, and their mitigation. The first edition of this report covers the first year of full application of the DSA, spanning the period from 17 February 2024 to 16 February 2025.