Online platforms, intermediary responsibility, and human rights: digital copyright as a site of multiple contestations in the EU

Whereas once, intermediary immunity from liability in the EU was a question that arose in the context of balancing copyright protection and other human rights, the changing perception of online platforms now means that the question of copyright protection has been subsumed into a broader discussion of the responsibilities of platforms in the offering of their services. This chapter focuses on this changing impetus in platform governance, highlighting the original approach of a balancing of rights including that to conduct a business under case law such as Scarlet v Sabam, before considering how the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive and Digital Services Act have substantially altered the existing approach. Platforms are no longer considered neutral arbiters performing a content moderation function. Instead, they are perceived as potentially problematic actors in their own rights, with heightened scrutiny of their policies and actions in order to guarantee fundamental rights protections.