New York Times podcaster Ezra Klein recently suggested that every major innovation in communication is followed by a period of huge upheaval and social disruption.
The invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century played a catalytic role in the Protestant Reformation. Radio became a mass medium in the 1920s, and within a decade, was one of the most powerful tools of Nazi propaganda. Television became a mass medium in the 1950s, turning politicians into performers, boosting consumerism, replacing local cultures with a shared national culture, and reshaping family life.
Today, we live in the ever-expanding world of the internet. Families went from gathering around one television to each person having multiple devices on the go.
If television supposedly unified us, the internet – to borrow from Michel Houellebecq’s Atomised – converted us into fine particles that congregate and dissipate at a moment’s notice.
The gatekeepers are no longer governments but big tech companies. The gates don’t close. The algorithms amplify. A global, yet fragmented audience of billions, susceptible to micro-targeting. Emotion trumps accuracy. Memes outshine political discourse. A decentralised tool for mass-scale information, misinformation and disinformation. The internet never sleeps. It is highly addictive and personalised – an omniscient agent of constant change and disruption.
The risks
In this digital era, the benefits appear to be many, but so too the risks. Regulators struggle to keep up with the sheer size of content and pace of change. Countries face systemic risks from online intermediaries and platforms such as the spread of illegal content (hate speech, terrorism, child sexual abuse), content harmful to minors, incitement to violence and criminality, as well as threats to fundamental rights, electoral processes, and physical and mental well-being.
Earlier this month, the European Board for Digital Services adopted its first report on the most prominent and recurring systemic risks stemming from the design or functioning of Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) – defined as having over 45 million active users a month within the EU.
In addition to the risks above, they identified, among other things, the dissemination of content linked to human trafficking or sexual exploitation, depictions of non-consensual sex, risks to child safety and the protection of minors, risks of stalking, bullying, grooming, doxing, harassment, hate, disinformation, misinformation, social unrest, gender-based violence, dehumanising speech, revenge porn, sextortion, non-consensual explicit images, involuntary synthetic pornographic images, promotion of self-harm, suicide, addictive use of social media, commercial exploitation of minors as influencers, sexualisation of minors, use of generative AI systems to create child sexual abuse material from any photo/video of a child and its dissemination, the emotional attachment of minors to generative AI chatbots, and the risks to physical and mental well-being, particularly for children, from these chatbots giving harmful health advice, such as, in relation to eating disorders.
Regulation
The European Union approaches the gargantuan task of addressing these risks through two main legislative tools: the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The AVDSM is a media-specific rulebook for audiovisual content. It covers radio and television broadcasters, video-on-demand services (like Netflix) and video-sharing platforms (YouTube, TikTok etc). National media regulators supervise compliance and enforce rules on content standards. Their role is to protect users from harmful or illegal content and ensure the protection of minors, bans on hate speech and incitement to violence or criminality, transparent advertising, the promotion of European works, and editorial standards.
The DSA is the new tool in the box. Passed in 2022, it came into force last year. Amnesty International predicted that the DSA would be a “similarly transformative force as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)” on personal data privacy.
It seeks to ensure online safety, transparency and accountability, applying to all major online platforms. It regulates systems and procedures, not editorial content, ensuring platforms and search engines have the mechanisms to detect, report and act on illegal content. Supervision is shared between the European Commission (for VLOPs and VLOSEs) and national Digital Service Coordinators.
In a nutshell, the DSA regulators require platforms to remove illegal content quickly, put risk-mitigation systems in place – including age verification tools and content moderation mechanisms – limit algorithmic harms, be transparent about advertising and recommender systems, and empower users with reporting tools, appeals, and access to data. The legislation covers all online intermediaries and platforms, including porn sites, social media, marketplaces, and search engines.
Europe-wide supervision from Cyprus
In Cyprus, the work of the audiovisual media regulator, under the AVMSD, and the national Digital Services Coordinator, under the DSA, are covered by the same body – the Radiotelevision & Digital Services Authority (RTDSA).
Its main responsibilities include:
· Licencing and supervision of Cyprus-based TV, radio, video-on-demand services, and video-sharing platforms
· Enforcing content and advertising rules under AVMSD
· Serving as the national point of contact and member of the European Board for Digital Services
· Handling DSA enforcement, complaints, investigations, sanctions, and EU-wide cooperation on illegal content, systemic risk assessments, transparency etc.
· Coordinating all other competent authorities involved in DSA implementation.
The RTDSA is governed by a non-executive board, and comprises of 11 officers plus four legal officers, and one IT officer. There is a single senior officer who currently serves as acting director since the position was vacated. Nobody in the Authority deals solely with the immense supervisory responsibilities emanating from the Digital Services Act.
A brief look on the website shows that their investigations, decisions and reports focus on the traditional audiovisual element of radio and television, in particular, local media for local audiences. But the Authority is now also responsible for online platforms that provide services to millions of Europeans across the Union, whether they offer betting, products, or pornographic material.
Cyprus only appointed the Authority as its national Digital Service Coordinator in February 2024, though it was not actually empowered to act until July this summer when parliament passed two bills governing its status and powers.
Powerful penalties but lax supervision
The European Commission is primarily responsible for supervising very large online platforms and search engines throughout the EU, regardless of where they’re based. The remaining platforms are covered by the national regulator of the country they are based in.
Reflecting the weight of responsibility on its shoulders – and in light of the multiple risks posed to European societies – the Authority’s supervisory powers are significant. Mirroring the Commission’s own powers, the Radiotelevision & Digital Services Authority, under Cypriot law, has the same investigatory powers and ability to impose fines of up to 6% of global revenue on online intermediaries and platforms based in Cyprus. Considering the global reach of certain online platforms headquartered here, that’s a potentially hefty penalty.
The question raised in this new digital era is: can Cyprus ensure a safe internet through consistent and effective enforcement of the rules? Does it have the resources to go toe-to-toe with some of the massive platforms based here? Or will it develop a reputation for lax supervision, exposing Cyprus and Europe to multiple risks?
Pornographic platforms
An example of just one industry which faces many of the risks referenced above, especially the need for protection of minors, is the online pornographic platforms. There are currently six based in Cyprus – most in Limassol, one in Dali. Until recently, two were designated as VLOPs, that is with over 45 million active users a month in Europe.
The service Pornhub, run by Aylo Freesites Ltd in Dali, is considered a Very Large Online Platform and falls under the Commission’s regulatory scope. Until recently, Stripchat (company name Technius Ltd) was also a VLOP. The Commission de-designated it as a VLOP in May 2025, meaning it now comes under Cypriot Authority supervision. Stripchat may no longer meet VLOP criteria, but it still has millions of users across Europe.
Also in May this year, the Commission launched formal proceedings against four adult sites, including Pornhub and Stripchat, to investigate suspected breaches of the Digital Services Act related to child safety. Key concerns included the lack of effective age verification tools to protect minors from adult content, and other measures ensuring children’s privacy, safety, and well-being. The investigation is ongoing.
The remaining pornographic platforms based in Cyprus are: xHamster (Hammy Media Ltd), Faphouse (Tecom Ltd), Reveal Me (RMTTM Ltd) and Tukif.porn (EvoFill Ltd).
The RTDSA is now responsible for ensuring robust oversight of these sites, to assess risks, push for mitigation measures against any negative effects, including on the mental and physical well-being of users, while ensuring minors across Europe are prevented from accessing adult content. It can act on complaints, launch ex officio investigations, ensure compliance, impose fines, vet researchers who wish to access complex algorithms of the platforms, and certify ‘trusted flaggers’ with expertise on flagging risk, as well as out-of-court settlement bodies.
The Authority
Politis to the point spoke with RTDSA Legal Officer Andrie Aristidou about the size of the task facing the Authority.
She noted the different obligations and competences under its dual role, as an audiovisual services regulator and digital services coordinator.
Under the former, the Authority is responsible for checking the content and advertising of the audiovisual providers, including video-sharing platforms. While it lists the pornographic video-sharing platforms under its supervision on its website, in practice, the Authority cannot initiate inspections or launch proceedings on the latter until the legal bill covering regulations for video-sharing platforms has been passed.
“The law has been updated and is harmonised with the AVMSD directive, but we are still waiting for regulations that will give us more specific powers to supervise Video-Sharing Platforms (VSP),” said Aristidou.
Regarding its second role as digital services coordinator, this covers the appropriateness of the technical procedures in place for digital platforms to protect the public. For example, do platforms create channels for users to report abuse? Are they minimising risk? Do minors have access where they shouldn’t?
Although the higher risk video-sharing platforms based in Cyprus are already known to the Authority, it still needs to compile a formal registry to put specific platforms under its supervision as a digital services coordinator, which it has yet to do.
A huge responsibility
In July 2025, the Commission published guidelines on the protection of minors, recommending age verification methods to restrict access to adult content such as pornography and gambling. The EU is in the process of developing EU Digital Identity Wallets to tackle the question of age verification while protecting privacy. In the meantime, it has created a pilot model called the ‘mini-wallet’, which the Authority has encouraged the platforms in Cyprus to adopt.
Regarding age verification rules, Aristidou notes that this is an obligation for every platform that might have harmful content, whether its betting, alcohol sales, porn. It must ensure to verify the age of the user before providing access to such content. In most cases, a simple click stating you are over 18 is enough to ‘verify’ the user’s age.
Aristidou noted this was not enough. Cyprus has agreed to participate in the pilot phase of the EU’s two-factor authenticator ‘mini-wallet’ app.
“We offered to join because we are aware of the responsibility we have with these video-sharing platforms,” the legal officer said, adding, “It is a top priority. Every day a minor of any age can bet, buy alcohol, have access to porn material.”
At present, it is not obligatory for the platforms to adopt the app, but they are obliged to prove they have adopted adequate measures to ensure age verification. If not, the Authority can investigate and impose fines. In reality, however, it is not yet in a position to take on such a task.
The RTDSA was empowered to act as digital services coordinator three months ago. It has yet to launch any investigation and is still feeling its way around, still in the process of setting up its registry of online platforms.
A small authority in a big world
“We are a very small authority in a small state of the EU, and the challenges are many. We need a powerful coordinator that platforms take notice of, suitable staff and resources to carry out our work, to approach platforms, as associates, not enemies. We already talk to them.”
Aristidou acknowledged that implementing the laws on audiovisual and digital services were a huge challenge for the Authority. They have to deal with large, organised platforms that have entire departments of legal and compliance officers. Their interlocutors need to know the Authority is prepared to use its powers if needed. For that, the regulator needs experience. The global world of digital services is considerably different from that of local radio and television.
“It is a huge responsibility. The Commission and other national coordinators await from us to regulate these platforms effectively because there is an impact on their own citizens,” she said.
“It’s very difficult, but this is only a third of what we have to cover. The Digital Services Act is huge, it covers many things, including election periods, financial scams, hate speech, data access, and more,” added Aristidou.