The Commission's initial communication suggested Frontex "will be acting" as such an entity, which EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen later clarified meant they would apply for it. That application would have to be reviewed by a national authority to check Frontex's independence and expertise in that area.

Polish right-wing MEP Piotr Müller told POLITICO that the "mandate must be precise" in focusing on criminal networks. “Frontex should go after smugglers and human traffickers, not police opinions about migration.” Müller is among those that criticize the DSA as policing free speech online.

Executive Vice President Virkkunen announced the news at a meeting Tuesday of signatories of the DSA’s code of conduct on disinformation, some of whom are trusted flaggers. Questions around the implications of the measures for freedom of speech and assembly came up in the closed-door meeting. According to two attendees, Renate Nikolay, deputy director general of DG CONNECT, the Commission's tech department, tried to assuage the free-speech concerns.

Other lawmakers took a positive, yet reserved, stance towards the changes in Frontex's mandate. The EU's migration authorities "need the tools to respond to the changing threats at Europe’s borders, including smugglers using social media to spread lies and promote dangerous crossings," which can include "better monitoring and information-sharing," Regina Doherty, a center-right MEP from Ireland told POLITICO.

But "the priority now is to get the detail right so authorities can act quickly within a clear legal framework, and platforms take responsibility for illegal content," she pointed out.

Austrian center-right MEP Andreas Schwab said that “social media clearly is becoming more and more a concern, but we should not have too many tools – let’s make use of the DSA.”