GDPR Weaponized: How Data Protection Undermines the Freedom of Press
Potential tensions between freedom of expression and privacy are not a novelty. However, the new EU data protection regime that came into force in May 2018 already generated fundamentally new kind of collisions between these rights. Recent decisions by data protection authorities and national courts from multiple member states undermine the freedom of press and put extreme burden on the daily work of journalists and the press. The divergence in the application and interpretation of “press exceptions” from the GDPR creates fragmented protection data protection and makes the legal environment erratic for media companies. The proposed research would start with a theoretical analysis on the interaction between the GDPR and the internationally accepted legal standards on privileges of the media based on which the relevant case-law would be dissected. Finally, as a synthesis, arguments on how to balance between the colliding fundamental rights would be formulated.
