Awareness of the Digital Services Act (DSA)
The survey results show that only a relatively low proportion of respondents – an average of 20% across the nine European countries surveyed – are aware that the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force in February 2024. A significantly higher awareness of this regulation was found among respondents from Finland (24%), Germany (23%) and, in particular, Hungary (28%). The low level of awareness of these regulations may be due primarily to the complexity of the topic, which is not always visible in the lives of ordinary people, and also to the fact that communication has been focused mainly on experts and technology companies rather than the general public.
In terms of socio-demographic characteristics, men (25%) were more likely to have heard of the DSA than women (16%), and young people under 34 (25% on average) were also more likely to be aware of this regulation, as were people from larger cities (23%), people with higher education (25%), and also those who use social media daily (20%) or at least once a week (23%).
Question: On February 17, 2024, the Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force in European Union countries, introducing uniform rules for digital intermediary service providers across the European Union with the aim of creating a safe and predictable online environment. Were you aware of this regulation?
The majority of the European population also agrees they do not currently have enough information about this regulation. On average, less than a fifth (17%) of respondents reported being sufficiently informed about the DSA. Respondents in France (76%) were more likely to feel uninformed, while those in Germany (20%), Hungary (23%) and Slovenia (22%) reported higher levels of awareness.
In the case of socio-demographic groups, the findings are very similar to those for the previous question on awareness of the DSA. In this respect, it was also found that men (21%) feel significantly more informed about DSA than women (14%). This also applies to younger age groups up to age 34 (25% on average), people from larger cities (18%) and those who use social media daily (19%). These findings on DSA are in line with expectations. The above-mentioned groups are generally more digitally literate, spend more time online, and follow technological and social issues more frequently.
On the other hand, the results also showed that respondents with higher education are less likely to feel they have enough information about the DSA (71%). It seems that people with higher education are more aware of the complexity and depth of this topic, and therefore also of the limits of their own knowledge on the subject. They may feel that they do not understand it sufficiently or have all the necessary information.
Question: Do you feel that you have sufficient information about the implementation of DSA relating to a safe online environment in your country? Note: T2B=Definitely yes + Rather yes
On average, less than half (47%) of respondents were able to correctly identify the regulatory authority responsible for enforcing the DSA in the countries surveyed. The lowest proportion of correct answers was recorded in Slovakia, where approximately a quarter of respondents (27%) answered correctly. Conversely, the highest proportion of people – more than two-thirds of respondents (68%) – were able to correctly identify the coordinator in Slovenia. More than half of respondents also gave the correct answer in Finland (59%), Hungary (55%), France (54%), and Estonia (51%). At the bottom of the ranking with the lowest proportion of correct answers were Slovakia, Germany (28%), and the Czech Republic (32%). The low level of identification of the coordinator in Slovakia, Germany, and the Czech Republic may again point to weaker or insufficient communication of this fact to the public.
Question: The DSA requires EU Member States to designate a digital services coordinator as an independent and impartial body to oversee compliance with the DSA. Select one of the following institutions that is the coordinator in your country. Note: Respondents could choose from multiple possible institutions in their country, one of which was the correct answer. At the time of data collection, no DSA coordinator had been appointed in Poland, so the correct answer was “Poland does not yet have a DSA coordinator.”
Perception of Illegal Content on the Internet
Of all the online threats monitored, child pornography and contacting children for sexual purposes are perceived as the most negative in every country. The vast majority of respondents (80–88%) perceive these areas as clearly harmful. This type of content is considered negative significantly more often by respondents in Estonia and Germany. Three-quarters of the European population also perceive terrorist content very negatively, most notably in France (80%), but again in Estonia (79%) and Germany (77%). The high level of agreement on the most serious content reflects a broad social consensus and moral values across all countries.
On the other hand, compared to other European countries, significantly fewer people in Finland consider hate speech on the internet to be dangerous, with only 41% of the Finnish population reporting this, while the European average is close to 60%. However, the Czech Republic (52%) and Estonia (50%) are also below average in this area. This result may be related to the strong tradition of freedom of expression in the Nordic countries. Finnish society may be more sensitive to possible restrictions on freedom of speech and may perceive the line between what is considered dangerous “hate speech” differently than, for example, France, which has had traumatic experiences with hate-motivated terrorist attacks. In the Czech Republic, as in Slovakia, perceptions may be influenced by historical experience with censorship, which may lead to a greater emphasis on freedom of expression.
Another threat, the illegal sale of animals, resonated more in France (64%), Germany (60%), and Hungary (60%). In France and Germany, there is a long-standing strong public awareness of animal protection and rights. These countries are also frequent targets of illegal trade in puppies from Eastern Europe, which means that their authorities and the public are directly confronted with the consequences of this trade, which may naturally increase the population’s sensitivity to this issue. Hungary, like Slovakia and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, is often identified as one of the main source countries for illegal animal trade, especially puppies. It is therefore likely that the Hungarian public is more sensitive to this issue because they encounter it directly in their neighbourhood and perceive it as a serious ethical and social problem.
Respondents in all countries surveyed consider copyright infringement (41%) and the sale of prohibited or counterfeit goods (48%) to be the least dangerous. Copyright infringement is least serious in Finland (23%) and the Czech Republic (31%), where the sale of counterfeit goods also received the lowest rating. Copyright infringement can often be downplayed and not seen as a direct threat to individuals, unlike physical violence or terrorism. In countries such as the Czech Republic, there may still be a certain cultural tolerance for digital piracy, which developed in the 1990s and early 2000s. The same may be true for the sale of counterfeit goods. Although it is an illegal activity, many people do not perceive it as highly harmful because the victim is seemingly “just” a big brand and not a specific individual.
In general, women and older people attributed greater significance to all the threats monitored than the population as a whole.
Question: For each of the following items of illegal online content, indicate how harmful or harmless you think it is. Please rate your answers on a five-point scale, where 1 means “definitely harmful” and 5 means “definitely harmless.” Note: A heat map method was used for display; T1B = 1 – Definitely harmful
Basic Parameters
Research title: CEDMO Tracking (V4+5)
Main data collection period: 1st wave: June 16, 2025 – July 11, 2025
Target group: representative population 15+ y. o.
Method of selecting respondents: quota selection
Quota settings: according to national statistical offices
Quotas monitored: gender, age, education, region, size of place of residence
Collection method: CAWI survey using an online panel
Total sample: 1st wave: n=25024 (all countries): CZ n=2444, SK n=2460, EE n=2834, FI n=2853, FR n=2996, DE n=3067, HU n=2917, PL n=2847, SL n=2606
*Data collection for the CEDMO Tracking study was funded by the National Recovery Plan — project MPO 60273/24/21300/21000 CEDMO 2.0 NPO.
