Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, in a written answer on 8 July 2026, defended the Commission's proposal to repeal the Platform-to-Business (P2B) Regulation, arguing that the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act now provide stronger and more enforceable protections for business users facing opaque and lengthy automated vetting processes on internet platforms.
The answer came in response to a question from MEP Tomislav Sokol (PPE), who raised concerns about media outlets and other business users being subjected to automated vetting processes lasting months or years without clear justification or human review. Sokol asked whether such practices comply with the P2B Regulation and the DSA, how many complaints the Commission had received, and whether additional enforcement measures were planned.
Virkkunen acknowledged that both the P2B and the DSA impose complaint-handling obligations on platforms: Article 20 of the DSA requires timely, non-discriminatory, and non-arbitrary handling of complaints, not solely by automated means, while Article 11 of the P2B requires processing within a reasonable timeframe with individualised outcomes. However, she noted that the Commission does not maintain a separate category for complaints about long-term restrictions or vetting procedures, and that the P2B has been "under-applied and under-enforced" because it does not mandate Member States to designate a competent authority to enforce it or report complaint numbers.
Virkkunen pointed to the DSA's more robust enforcement structure, which includes Digital Services Coordinators (DSCs) in Member States and direct Commission oversight for very large online platforms. She also highlighted the Commission's proposal, as part of the Digital Omnibus simplification package, to repeal the P2B entirely, arguing that this would remove a regulatory layer, improve legal clarity, and lower compliance costs for businesses.
the Commission views the DSA and DMA as sufficient to protect business users and is prioritising simplification over maintaining overlapping regulations. No specific new enforcement measures were announced, but the Commission expects DSCs to handle complaints under the DSA framework. The Digital Omnibus proposal, if adopted by the European Parliament and Council, would formally repeal the P2B, shifting all relevant obligations to the DSA and DMA.