The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force on Wednesday 16 November. Online platforms now have three months to report the number of active end-users on their services.
By way of reminder, this legislation, which was adopted on 5 July by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12986/3), creates new obligations for online platforms with the purpose of limiting the dissemination of harmful content, increasing transparency and user protection – in particular in relation to minors – and ensuring that digital platforms take more responsibility (see EUROPE 12938/6).
All online intermediaries will have to comply with the new obligations, such as the reporting mechanism for illegal content. However, very large digital platforms – those that have more than 45 million users – and major search engines will also be subject to additional obligations, such as an annual assessment of the risk of harm linked to the dissemination of illegal goods and content or disinformation.
New provisions should limit arbitrary decisions taken by platforms as a way of moderating content. Users will be able to challenge moderation decisions and lodge a complaint directly with the platform.
The European Commission will have to monitor the large digital platforms and Member States will have to appoint a national coordinator for digital services, who will supervise the other bodies that fall within the scope of the DSA.
See the text published in the EU Official Journal: https://aeur.eu/f/439 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)