Commission President von der Leyen confirmed on 3 July, during her visit to Cork for the inauguration of Ireland's Council Presidency, that a legislative proposal to restrict minors' access to social media is expected in September, describing the measure as an age-based delay on access rather than an outright ban. The proposal will be informed by the conclusions of the Commission's expert group on children's online safety, due to deliver its report on 13 July and expected to provide a comprehensive framework for age-differentiated access thresholds, with the formal announcement widely anticipated at von der Leyen's State of the Union address. Taoiseach Micheál Martin warmly welcomed the initiative and pledged that the Irish Presidency will work with the Commission to advance it, seeing it as a potential flagship achievement for Ireland's six-month term and a direct expression of Dublin's stated priority of securing an EU-level decision on a digital age of majority.

Comcast's Sky has agreed to buy the broadcast channels and streaming service of Britain's ITV for up to £1.6 billion, creating a British champion with the scale to compete with global players like Netflix, Amazon and Disney, in what Sky CEO Dana Strong described as a "defining moment" and one of the biggest deals in the history of British broadcasting. The transaction will leave ITV as a stand-alone production business while the combined Sky and ITV broadcasting arm would account for more than 70% of the UK television advertising market, with the newly merged entity committing to spend a minimum of £2.1 billion on content between 2028 and 2032. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2027, will now face scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers, and reflects the growing pressure on traditional broadcasters to consolidate in the face of competition from platforms like YouTube.

The Commission's Regulatory Scrutiny Board issued a negative opinion on the impact assessment underpinning the planned revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive following a hearing on 1 July. The Commission must now rework and resubmit its assessment before the revision can proceed to the next stage, representing a procedural setback. At the same hearing, the Board issued a more favourable "positive with reservations" opinion on the Digital Fairness Act, meaning key weaknesses must be addressed before it moves forward, with the Commission still expected to present it as part of a broader consumer protection package in Q4 2026. The Commission has declined to comment on either opinion, and the specific concerns raised by the Board remain undisclosed, though in the case of the Digital Fairness Act it is understood that comments centred primarily on the Commission's assessment of the cost of the envisaged measures for businesses.

Ireland takes over the Council Presidency on 1 July 2026 with a digital agenda centred on simplification, AI and cloud policy, platform regulation and online safety, including a commitment to completing the Digital Omnibus package by end-2026 and hosting an AI Summit on 14 October. Key files to be progressed include the Digital Networks Act and the Cloud and AI Development Act, alongside continued implementation of the Digital Services Act and advancing discussions on child online safety and a potential AVMSD revision. The broader Ireland-Lithuania-Greece trio programme, covering July 2026 to December 2027, complements these priorities with a focus on shaping global digital standards notably on AI, tackling disinformation, addressing online harms and strengthening the protection of children online.

On 17 June, egta and seven other European media and broadcasting associations sent a joint letter to Executive Vice-President Virkkunen raising serious concerns about the Commission's draft guidelines on AI Act transparency obligations, warning that, as currently drafted, they would generate excessive over-labelling across professional media content and create disproportionate technical and operational burdens. Our core concern is that the overly broad definition of deepfakes extends far beyond the scope intended by Article 50 of the AI Act by capturing clearly fictitious or non-deceptive content, while the guidelines' reading of timing rules as creating a continuous labelling obligation has no basis in the law. We are calling on the Commission to narrow the deepfake definition, clarify the timing rules, and ensure standards are technically workable before the obligations enter into application on 2 August.

In an open letter from 3 June, 15 major industry federations from 13 EU member states, including Germany's BDI, France's MEDEF, Italy's Confindustria and Spain's CEOE, urged Council members to resist the Cypriot Presidency's push to rush and finalise a political agreement on the Digital Omnibus before 1 July, warning that the current compromise text risks diluting the Commission's original proposal to the point where it no longer delivers meaningful simplification and may instead add complexity on contested issues such as cookie management. With the European Parliament not expected to adopt its negotiating position before early 2027, the signatories argue there is neither urgency nor justification for rushing, and point to the troubled implementation of the Data Act and the AI Act as cautionary examples.

A group of over 20 European media companies has filed a collective lawsuit against Google at the Amsterdam court, seeking €640 million in damages for alleged anticompetitive practices in the online advertising market. The lawsuit, financed by Czech litigation funder LitFin, builds directly on the €2.95 billion fine the European Commission imposed on Google in September 2025 for abusing its dominance in advertising technology, with publishers arguing they lost significant revenue and paid inflated costs as a result. The case adds further legal pressure on Google at a sensitive moment, as controversy continues to swirl over reports that Commission President von der Leyen separately blocked a DMA fine against the company, raising broader questions about the consistency and independence of EU enforcement.

The European Commission has published the conclusions of its 4 May implementation dialogue on the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), chaired by Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, in which stakeholders broadly agreed the directive has supported the internal media market, cultural diversity and viewer protection, while calling for simpler and more modern rules. Key priorities emerging from the discussion include ensuring fairer competition between traditional broadcasters and video-sharing platforms, updating advertising rules, clarifying obligations for influencers, supporting European works, and improving alignment with the Digital Services Act. The outcomes of the dialogue will feed into the ongoing AVMSD review, which will go to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board on 1st July.

The European Commission's DMA review, published on 28 April, declared the law fit for purpose after two years of full application, pointing to tangible early gains such as choice screens, cross-platform messaging and advertising transparency, while fines against Apple and Meta signal enforcement willingness, though consumer groups warn that gatekeepers are deliberately engineering friction into compliance and that data-sharing obligations are still not being met in practice. Stricter enforcement rather than legislative revision is the stated priority, with ongoing investigations into cloud computing and proceedings against Alphabet on AI interoperability, though the Commission stopped short of extending interoperability to social networks despite industry calls to do so. Looking ahead, the rapid integration of AI into platforms is emerging as the next major enforcement frontier, with consumer groups pushing for the DMA's interoperability rules to cover social networks and AI infrastructure.

The European Commission launched on 8th May a targeted consultation on draft guidelines designed to help providers and deployers of AI systems comply with the transparency obligations set out in Article 50 of the AI Act, covering requirements such as informing users when they interact with an AI system, labelling AI-generated content, and disclosing the use of deepfakes. The draft guidelines also clarify key concepts and scope, including the exclusion of personal use cases, and are intended to complement the voluntary Code of Practice on AI-generated content currently being finalised. Stakeholders have until 3 June 2026 to submit their feedback, with the rules set to become applicable on 2 August 2026.

The European Commission has set out preliminary measures under the Digital Markets Act requiring Google to share key search data, including ranking, query and click data, with rival search engines on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The measures cover technical details such as eligibility criteria for data recipients, including AI-based search services, dataset scope and format, access frequency, anonymisation requirements and pricing. The proposals are open for public consultation until 1 May, with a final binding decision expected by July 2026.

The European Commission has launched an age-verification app letting users prove they are over 18 without sharing personal data, billed as a free, privacy-first tool to help platforms comply with child-safety rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Its debut was immediately undermined when a video showed the prototype could be bypassed in under two minutes, and child rights advocates warn it risks becoming a "quick technical fix to a structural problem," arguing that the real harm to children online stems from platforms' addictive design and behavioural advertising, none of which age verification addresses. Meanwhile, the Commission's slow pace has already allowed member states to forge ahead with their own national rules, creating the very fragmented patchwork of loopholes the EU was supposed to prevent.

A coalition of EU media trade bodies (including egta) sent a letter to commissioner McGrath and Virkkunen on April 21, urging EU regulators to ensure the upcoming Digital Fairness Act targets Big Tech rather than broadcasters and publishers already subject to heavy regulation. The goal is to warn that a one-size-fits-all approach risks harming democracy-sensitive media sectors by applying the same rules to structurally distinct actors regardless of their risk level or market power. We notably argue that features like autoplay, recommender systems, and personalised advertising are vital revenue streams for the media industry, and that the legislation should take a proportionate, evidence-based approach to avoid undermining the business models that sustain journalism and media pluralism across Europe.

Ireland assumed the rotating Presidency of the EU Council on 1 July 2026 under the theme "Strength with Unity", with a digital agenda that places online safety, AI and cloud policy, and media regulation at its core. On audiovisual and tech files specifically, the Presidency has signalled it is ready to open negotiations on the AVMSD revision should the Commission publish its proposal before year-end (highly likely), will advance early technical discussions on the Digital Fairness Act ahead of the Commission's expected Q4 2026 proposal, and will host an international AI Summit on 14 October. Ireland is also making child online safety a flagship priority, seeking an EU-level decision on a digital age of majority and advancing robust age verification mechanisms, a focus that sits alongside its broader push to complete the Digital Omnibus package and strengthen enforcement of the DSA, DMA and AI Act.

The EU Court of Justice on 2 July dismissed Google's appeal and upheld the €4.1 billion fine originally imposed by the European Commission in 2018 for anticompetitive practices related to the Android operating system, in particular the use of pre-installation agreements with phone makers to give an unfair advantage to Google's search engine and Chrome browser. The fine had already been marginally reduced from €4.3 billion to €4.1 billion by the General Court in 2022, but the Court of Justice confirmed the penalty in full, rejecting Google's argument that Android had created more choice rather than less. The ruling adds to a growing body of EU enforcement actions against Google, which was also fined €2.95 billion in 2025 for distorting competition in the advertising technology market, with a separate DMA fine still pending amid ongoing political controversy over alleged interference by Commission President von der Leyen.

The UK government confirmed on 15 June that it plans to ban under-16s from accessing social media platforms, with the changes expected to come into force in Spring 2027, affecting major platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook and X. The Guardian reported that the ban could lead to a £1.3bn drop in UK digital advertising spend in 2027, as platforms lose access to a major youth audience segment, potentially driving advertisers toward streaming, contextual advertising and other compliant environments. Enforcement responsibility sits entirely with the platforms, with Ofcom overseeing age-verification requirements, while critics warn that removing millions of under-16 users from advertising inventory will reduce available impressions and likely drive up costs for all advertisers across the board.

On 16 June, the Court of Justice issued a Grand Chamber judgment which, while concerning age-verification for pornographic websites and police-check alert services, carries broader implications for platform regulation on two fronts: it confirms that the country-of-origin principle is not an absolute shield, and that member states may intervene where significant public interest concerns arise and the home state has not acted. In addition, the Court found that providers using algorithms to determine the visibility, prioritisation and presentation of content are exercising control over it and cannot benefit from the hosting liability safe harbour under the E-commerce directive, challenging the traditional regulatory distinction between editorial media services and supposedly neutral platforms. The ruling could inform future discussions on platform accountability, particularly around whether regulatory obligations should reflect not only who creates content but also who determines its visibility, reach and monetisation.

On 10 June, the European Commission published the final voluntary Code of Practice on the marking and labelling of AI-generated content, drafted by six independent experts with input from over 180 stakeholders, to help providers and deployers of generative AI systems prepare for the AI Act's transparency obligations entering into application on 2 August 2026. The Code is a voluntary, industry-facing instrument through which signatories can demonstrate compliance: it covers the technical marking and detection of AI-generated content by providers, as well as the labelling of deepfakes. This Code does not clarify the definitions of deepfakes and creative works, which are left to the Commission's binding guidelines, whose draft has already drawn significant industry pushback.

The Council has dropped a proposed exemption in their Digital Omnibus draft compromise text that would have allowed contextual advertising measurement without user consent. If such a change remains, it would remove one of the more business-friendly elements industry had hoped to see in the reform, at the very least. This approach leans towards a uniform text rather than a risk-based regulation, as contextual advertising does not track users across sites and should not be treated identically to behavioural profiling.

On 3 June, the EU General Court partially annulled the European Commission's 2023 decision designating Meta as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act, upholding the designation of Messenger as a distinct and important gateway for businesses but annulling the designation of Marketplace on the grounds that the Commission had failed to sufficiently account for rule changes Meta had introduced before the designation that caused the number of business users to fall below the relevant thresholds. The practical impact of the ruling is limited, as the Commission had already removed Marketplace from its list of designated services in spring 2025 after it fell below the required user thresholds. Still, the judgment provides important guidance on the standard of justification required for future gatekeeper designations.

Reports alleging that Commission President von der Leyen personally intervened to block a billion euro DMA fine against Google that had been ready for announcement since March have sparked significant controversy, with the Commission denying any political interference and insisting that technical negotiations over reforms to Google's search engine are still ongoing. Over 34 civil society organisations signed an open letter on 5th May calling on von der Leyen to enforce the DMA without delay, while the European Parliament passed a resolution warning against external political pressure weakening the law's enforcement.

EU legislators reached a deal on the AI Omnibus on 7th May, pushing back compliance deadlines for high-risk AI systems, banning nudifier tools, and carving out only the machinery sector from the AI Act's framework after intense lobbying from Germany, while leaving the core obligations of the legislation substantively unchanged. The most contentious issue was the treatment of industrial AI, with Parliament pushing to exempt all regulated product sectors and the Council resisting, ultimately landing on a limited compromise.

The European Commission held a high-level roundtable on May 4th, chaired by Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, bringing together notably private and public broadcasters, VOD providers, and YouTube to discuss the likely revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Key priorities emerging from the discussions include simplifying advertising limits and transparency obligations, aligning video-sharing platform rules with the Digital Services Act, and establishing a clearer European definition for influencers, while broadcasters pushed hard to rebalance their regulatory obligations with those applied to platforms. Stakeholders remain divided on the scope of any revision, some favouring guidelines over a full reopening of the directive.

Warner Bros. shareholders have approved an $111bn takeover by Paramount Skydance, rubber-stamped without surprise at a general meeting on 23 April, after Netflix dropped out of the race to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in February. The deal has alarmed parts of the industry, with more than 1,500 professionals signing an open letter warning it would further concentrate the media landscape and reduce competition, though Paramount has sought to reassure critics by pledging a full theatrical release for every film and a minimum of 30 feature films per year. The merger still requires sign-off from competition authorities including the US Federal Communications Commission and the European Commission.

EU's Court of Justice ruled that Hungary violated the bloc's foundational values by passing a 2021 law that banned LGBT+ content for minors across films, TV, advertising and schools. The court found that it unlawfully discriminated against LGBT+ people and painted them as a threat to children simply because of their identity. The judgment, landing after Hungary's elections, deals a wider blow to the anti-gender movement across Europe, arriving just a week after Viktor Orbán's electoral defeat to Péter Magyar. Budapest can still appeal the ruling, but MEPs are already calling on incoming leader Magyar and Justice Commissioner McGrath to act decisively in upholding EU values and repealing the legislation.