Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (‘IMCO’) approved the interinstitutional agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA) on Thursday, 16 June (36 votes in favour, five against, and one abstention). The Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the text on 23 April (see EUROPE 12938/6).
“We are now one step closer to making the internet safer, fairer, and more transparent to the benefit of the citizens and businesses. This legislation will put an end to the digital Wild West”, stated Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Denmark), the rapporteur on the dossier.
As a reminder, large platforms—those with at least 45 million monthly users in the EU—will notably have to comply with stricter obligations, will be subject to independent audits, and will have to carry out risk assessments.
Micro and small companies will have additional time to comply with the rules and would receive certain exemptions.
The text also sets thresholds for the amount of fines that platforms can incur. These fines can thus reach up to 6% of the company’s annual worldwide turnover or even result in restricted access to the EU’s online space.
Users will be given greater power to report illegal content, and platforms will be required to act quickly. Content recommendation will be more transparent, and rules have also been introduced to prohibit advertising that targets minors or that is based on sensitive data.
Another provision is contained in the text in order to prohibit dark patterns, which push users to stay on a site longer or use a service.
On the side of the EU Council, the Ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) had approved the previous day, Wednesday 15 June, the inter-institutional agreement on the DSA
The text is expected to be put to a vote in the European Parliament during the July plenary session; it would then have to be applied no later than 15 months after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.
See the text of the agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/25r (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)