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Mathias Vermeulen

@mathver.bsky.social
5.8K followers 1.9K following 462 posts

EU law and tech policy, mostly musings on content moderation, platform governance, privacy, AI. Now: Co-Founder & Director @awo.agency. Fellow at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Then: EU Parliament. UN. Mozilla. PhD in EU law.

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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The European Commission designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine under the DSA on Aug. 31. Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social and Laureline Lemoine @laureline.eurosky.social on what the obligations require and whether a DMA gatekeeper designation could follow. buff.ly/7lTPiCq
techpolicy.press
What ChatGPT’s DSA Designation Means for OpenAI and the EU
The designation could have far-reaching implications for frontier labs' products and for the EU's own rulebook, write Mathias Vermeulen and Laureline Lemoine.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Join us today at 2.30 PM CET online for a conversation addressing the emerging regulatory framework of social media bans and age verification.
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
This wild document is the basis for the State Department's decision to cancel the visas and green cards of tech researchers who study the social media platforms and of tech regulators who enforce privacy and transparency laws. Disclosed to us last night in @thecoalition.bsky.social v. Rubio.
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
awo.agency @awo.agency · 16/04/2026
Great to see @eurosky.social launch access to PDS accounts for AT Protocol hosted entirely on EU servers today. We were pleased to be able to support the initiative with legal advice on EU data/platform law in its early stages. www.euronews.com/next/2026/04... eurosky.tech
euronews.com
What you need to know about Europe's new social network Eurosky
A Netherlands-based initiative is offering European users a homegrown alternative to Big Tech's social media offerings.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
newrepublic.com/article/2090...
newrepublic.com
Trump’s Humiliation in Orbán Defeat Stunner Is Only Just Beginning
For Viktor Orbán’s epic loss in Hungary to have real meaning in America, Democrats and liberals need to proclaim themselves part of the global anti-authoritarian movement.
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
It’s always interesting to see which subjects Meta will refuse to do content moderation on because “free speech,” and which content moderation the CEO will volunteer to do in advance to curry favor. In this case it was “naming a DOGE employee”
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 20/03/2026
Mistral CEO: AI companies should pay a content levy in Europe ft.trib.al/yNs1TET
ft.trib.al
Mistral CEO: AI companies should pay a content levy in Europe
A revenue-based charge would protect the livelihoods of copyright holders and bring legal certainty
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Alderik @alderik.eurosky.social · 17/03/2026
“The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Sweden at a recent board meeting moved to exclude Meta as a member of IAB Sweden. The board claimed during a meeting that Meta is not doing enough to prevent fraudulent ads.” www.mediapost.com/publications...
mediapost.com
IAB Sweden Expels Meta: Warns Advertisers About Fraud, Brand Safety 03/13/2026
The Interactive Advertising Bureau in Sweden at a recent board meeting moved to exclude Meta as a member of IAB Sweden, claiming that Meta is not doing enough to prevent fraudulent ads. The move sets standards for other European bodies to demand higher advertising standards from major tech platforms, and highlights the need for increased protection against advertising scams.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
www.ft.com/content/b92f...
ft.com
It is time for Europe to weaponise its chokepoints
China and others have long been adept at using supply chains to their advantage — the EU should do the same
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Meanwhile.. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
theguardian.com
US funding for global internet freedom ‘effectively gutted’
Programme that funds groups building tech to evade oppressive government controls under serious threat
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Luke McGee @lukemcgee.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
“The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda” - www.reuters.com/world/us-pla...
reuters.com
Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere
The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propagan...
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
US undermines democracy to promote Maga to the world
America is adapting older tools to spread a cynical worldview
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
washingtonpost.com
A company that rates news sites says the Trump administration is strangling it
NewsGuard sues Trump’s FTC alleging censorship after Chairman Andrew Ferguson barred a major ad agency from using its ratings
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
www.ft.com/content/fe36...
ft.com
Thanks Donald, Europe will take it from here
The continent must strive to disentangle itself from the US
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
www.chainalysis.com/blog/crypto-...
chainalysis.com
2026 Crypto Crime Report: Scams
Record $17 billion estimated stolen in crypto scams and fraud in 2025 as impersonation tactics and AI enablement surge.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
thecyberexpress.com/tiktok-ai-ge...
thecyberexpress.com
Poland Calls for EU Investigation of TikTok Over AI-Generated Disinformation Campaign
Poland's Ministry of Digital Affairs submitted a formal request to the European Commission, this week, demanding investigation of TikTok for
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Can’t believe you skipped youtu.be/2b_KfAGiglc?...
youtu.be
Janet Jackson - That's The Way Love Goes
YouTube video by JanetJacksonVEVO
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
nbcnews.com
Two families sue Meta over teens' deaths by suicide, citing 'sextortion' scams
One boy joined Instagram on Sunday and was dead by Tuesday afternoon. His mother says the app is to blame.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
X isn’t being penalised for hosting lawful speech. It is being penalised for business practices that make fraud easier and transparency harder. In any other sector, a product that enables impersonation or conceals the identity of advertisers would be recalled.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
(3)Preventing researchers to scrutinize what is going on on its platform. X imposed unnecessary barriers and rejected valid applications from eligible researchers. A platform that calls itself a champion of transparency shouldn’t be afraid of independent scrutiny. What is there to hide?
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
X not only did not want to address these issues, but actively wants to prevent scrutiny in the fraud that its platform enables.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
(2) A broken advertising transparency system The DSA requires platforms to let users see who is paying to influence them. X’s ad library is incomplete, inconsistent, and missing essential disclosures. Without this transparency, scam ads are harder to be taken down.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
(1) Misleading “verification” that enables impersonation scams: X turned the blue check into a paid badge without ensuring any meaningful verification. That design choice makes it dramatically easier for fraudsters to pose as real individuals, brands, or authorities.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
The Commission’s findings focus on three failures of a broken product that have nothing to do with the opinions people express on the platform:
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Today’s 120 million euro fine against X under the Digital Services Act (DSA) will be spun as a decision against “free speech.” It’s not. (1/7) #digitalservicesact #dsa #dsa ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
ec.europa.eu
Commission fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act
Today, the Commission has issued a fine of €120 million to X for breaching its transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Translating the CJEU judgment in Amazon vs EC on art.40 DSA: (1) giving vetted researchers data isn’t a disproportionate privacy intrusion; (2) compliance may be costly but you can bear it; (3) if you have a better way to study systemic risks, we haven’t heard it. curia.europa.eu/juris/docume...
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Nathan Gill: How WhatsApp messages revealed ex-Reform politician's pro-Russian bribes - BBC News
The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has admitted bribery and will be sentenced on Friday.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
time.com/7336204/meta...
time.com
7 Allegations Against Meta in Newly Unsealed Filings
Court filings allege Meta tolerated sex trafficking, hid harms to teens, and prioritized growth over user safety for years.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
politico.com
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
Meta said the allegations “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” to present a misleading narrative.
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Daphne Keller @daphnek.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
This is real news. Reporters, please report on it. ELEVEN former top FCC officials, Republican and Democratic, came together to condemn FCC Chairman Carr's abuses of power and efforts to suppress legal speech. It's not just Jimmy Kimmel. The FCC's jawboning and chill on legal speech is ongoing.
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna @gzf.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Attention, freelance tech reporters: Omydiar Network has an open call for their Winter 2026 Reporters in Residence program. Deadline: November 15. $8,000 a month stipend and $2,000 travel budget (totaling $50,000). Good luck! job-boards.greenhouse.io/omidyarnetwo...
job-boards.greenhouse.io
Reporters in Residence (Winter 2026)
Remote
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
reuters.com
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
forbes.com
OpenAI Ordered To Unmask ChatGPT User Behind 2 Prompts
Filed by child exploitation investigators with the DHS, the warrant reveals the government can ask OpenAI to provide information on anyone who enters specific prompts.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
The biggest source for any DSA investigation into addictive design features might not be platforms' risk assessments, but the more than 6 million documents that are part of the pretrial discovery process in the US www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
‘Massive Legal Siege’ Against Social Media Companies Looms
Thousands of plaintiffs’ complaints, millions of pages of internal documents and transcripts of countless hours of depositions are about to land in US courtrooms, threatening the future of the biggest...
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Huib Modderkolk @huibmodderkolk.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
NIEUWS: AIVD en MIVD delen minder informatie met hun Amerikaanse partners. Dat zeggen de hoofden van de Nederlandse diensten in de Volkskrant. Peter Reesink (MIVD): ‘Dat we soms ook dingen niet meer vertellen, dat is waar.’ 1/5 www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...
volkskrant.nl
Nederlandse diensten delen minder informatie met de VS: ‘Soms vertellen we dingen niet meer’
Het aantal dreigingen dat op Nederland afkomt is groot, zien de hoofden van de AIVD en de MIVD elke dag: niet alleen Russische agressie, maar ook de opmars van China als digitale macht en binnenlands ...
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
The UK government must tackle resistance from those who want to return to a “mythical past” as it develops its plans for AI-led economic growth, the new UK junior minister for artificial intelligence said www.mlex.com/mlex/artific...
mlex.com
UK's AI must reflect heritage, reject 'mythical past,' junior minister says | MLex | Specialist news and analysis on legal risk and regulation
The UK government must tackle resistance from those who want to return to a “mythical past” as it develops its plans for AI-led economic growth, the new UK junior minister for artificial intelligence ...
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Dr Kat Day (she/her) 🎃🌓 @chronicleflask.katday.com · 13/10/2025
They always start with free speech. It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Free speech? And they can use it to shut down anyone who criticises them, because it’s all “free speech” After “free speech” it’s “protecting women and girls” And then it’s whatever they actually wanted.
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Data compiled by The Chronicle of Philanthropy suggests at least 22,000 jobs were lost in the sector in the first six months of the year on.ft.com/4nBgdu4
on.ft.com
‘Enormous fear’: Trump’s threats against George Soros chill US non-profits
Civil society groups funded by billionaire’s charitable foundation feel vulnerable to administration’s attacks
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Strong report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Freedom of Expression on "the paradigm shift" in the governance of social media platforms that has "alarming consequences for freedom of expression online". www.ohchr.org/en/documents...
ohchr.org
A/80/341: Threats to freedom of expression online in turbulent times
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression focuses on a paradigm shift in the governance of social media platforms ...
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
awo.agency @awo.agency · 07/10/2025
We're delighted to be ranked in this year's Legal 500 in 3 practice areas (Civil liberties & human rights, Data protection, and Administrative & public law) and as a 'Firm to Watch' in Artificial Intelligence. Thank you to all our clients and referees! 🎉 www.legal500.com/firms/234760...
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
More in Dutch here - www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/....
nrc.nl
Geen spreekverbod voor Mekic in zaak tegen X
Het gerechtshof Amsterdam heeft het verzoek van X (het voormalige Twitter) om een spreekverbod op te leggen aan Danny Mekic afgewezen. Jurist Mekic is al geruime tijd in een strijd verwikkeld met het ...
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
X must hand over a full, unredacted version of Mekic’s data from Guano Notes to the Court of Appeal. The court may use this information in the case — but Mekic himself won’t receive the data yet. (6/6)
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Ahead of the appeal, X demanded that Mekic be barred from speaking publicly about the case, arguing this could reveal more about how Guano Notes works. The Court of Appeal has now ruled that Mekic is free to speak. (5/6)
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
X gave Mekic only limited access. Mekic sued — and won. The Amsterdam court ruled now, under penalty of a fine, that X must provide full access. X appealed that decision. The appeal hearing is set for 11 December. (4/6)
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
The dispute began when X made Mekic’s posts less visible after he retweeted a Dutch NOS news article containing the word “child pornography.” Mekic demanded access to his personal data and to how it was processed — which led to his account being hidden. (3/6)
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal has rejected X’s request to impose a gag order on jurist Danny Mekic. Mekic has long been in a legal battle with the company, seeking access to the personal data X holds about him and how it’s been used.(2/6)
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Interesting development in the X vs. Mekic case in the Netherlands, which partly deals with "Guano Notes" - X’s internal system that tracks users’ reputation scores and labels them. Those scores can determine whether posts are blocked or accounts are hidden. Very little is know about the system(1/6)
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
politico.com
The speech wars come for Wikipedia
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
www.ft.com/content/6630...
ft.com
European officials fear Trump is preparing to blame them for Ukraine failure
Poland’s Tusk warns of ‘reduced US involvement and a shift of responsibility’
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Reposted by Mathias Vermeulen
Lilian Edwards @lilianedwards.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Very happy to announce brilliant new paper on AI by the wonderful @atoosakz.bsky.social , Phillip Hacker, and er, me, on systemic risk and how it is confusingly differently interpreted through the EU AIA, the DSA and its origin, financial regulation. Paper at arxiv.org/pdf/2509.17878
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