Abstract
Freedom of speech is an important fundamental right that could be claimed has come under pressure by online platforms through their content moderation policies and terms of use. A recent EU proposal for Regulation, Digital Services Act (DSA), aims to update previous EU law and protect freedom of expression rights online. This paper will discuss in its first part the duty of online platforms to be good stewards and protectors of the freedom of expression. Relevant legal instruments such as the E-Commerce Directive and its proposed successor, the DSA, attempt to flesh out how that duty shall be carried out. However, the law is not the only type of regulation that applies online, but the guidelines and terms of service of each of the online platforms mentioned above. The second part discusses the importance of freedom of speech as a sine qua non freedom whether it is online or offline. The way in which freedom of expression might be protected from the rise of privatized regulation/content moderation are the procedural safeguards present in the DSA, which will be discussed in part III.