Bratislava, 19. august 2026
In the regulation of digital services, attention is currently focused primarily on very large online platforms and very large online search engines. However, regulatory practice in the Slovak digital market shows that the level of risk cannot be adequately assessed solely on the basis of platform size or number of users. Such an approach may overlook services with a limited user base that can nevertheless pose significant risks. In response to this need, the Council for Media Services is introducing an important analytical publication.
“We are presenting an analytical tool for the systematic identification of areas requiring supervisory attention, supporting the regulator in making effective use of its resources. At the same time, it contributes to more transparent and predictable supervision and enables proactive supervisory activities to be better targeted on the basis of available data,” explains Romana Kontírová, Head of the Supervision Department at the Council for Media Services.
The societal impact of services offered in the digital environment varies considerably. A recipe blog and a platform offering adult content, for example, illustrate the significant differences in the potential impact of different types of services. The publication introduces a risk index – a composite indicator that assigns each service a level of potential risk. This makes it possible to rank services consistently according to their potential negative societal impact and to prioritise supervisory activities accordingly.
The publication builds on the successful implementation of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), for which the Council for Media Services serves as Slovakia’s Digital Services Coordinator. It forms part of the institution’s analytical and research activities aimed at developing a transparent, predictable and trustworthy system of oversight of intermediary services established in Slovakia.
The findings were presented at the international The DSA and Platform Regulation Conference 2026, organised by the DSA Observatory at the University of Amsterdam, one of Europe’s leading expert events dedicated to digital platform regulation and the implementation of the DSA.