Hosting Intermediary Services' Liability Framework for Third-Party Uploaded Content in the Digital Single Market

Over the past decade, hosting intermediary services have become the principal actors in providing the public with access to third party-uploaded copyright-protected content.

Their increased role in the digital economy and the impact they have on the spread of copyright-infringing content uploaded by their users rendered the old intermediary liability framework under the E-Commerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC) and the InfoSoc Directive (Directive 2001/29/EC) inadequate and created a demand for a new liability framework to address the remuneration-related concerns of copyright holders.

Accordingly, the EU adopted the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/790) and proposed the Digital Services Act.

This research examines whether the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive changes the existing EU liability framework applicable to hosting intermediaries and explores the legal consequences that these actors might experience under the new system.