The rules of the European Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13229/12) will apply from this Friday 25 August. As a result, the 19 or so very large online platforms and search engines designated by the Commission on 23 April will have to comply with a number of stricter rules, particularly in the areas of targeted advertising, and reporting and removing illegal content.
“Europe is now the first jurisdiction in the world where online platforms no longer enjoy a ‘free pass’ and no longer set their own rules. They are now regulated entities in the same way as financial institutions”, commented Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
“Complying with the DSA is not a punishment - it’s an opportunity for these online platforms to strengthen their brand value and reputation as trustworthy sites”, he added.
The DSA will initially apply to Alibaba, Aliexpress, Amazon (see EUROPE 13221/33), Store, Apple AppStore, Booking.com, Facebook, Google’s ‘Maps’, ‘Play’ and ‘Shopping’ services, as well as Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Wikipedia, YouTube and Zalando (see EUROPE 13211/44). The Bing and Google search engines are also affected.
These very large online platforms and search engines (with more than 45 million monthly users in the EU) covered by the DSA will have to carry out an annual assessment of the risk of harm linked to the distribution of illegal goods and content or disinformation.
New provisions have also been introduced to limit arbitrary decisions taken by platforms in terms of content moderation. Users will be able to challenge moderation decisions and lodge a complaint directly with the platform.
The European Commission will be responsible for monitoring these very large digital platforms. The Member States, for their part, will have to appoint a national coordinator for digital services, who will in future supervise the other entities falling within the scope of the DSA.
“We offered them ‘stress tests’ to help them understand what they had to do. The real test begins now. My departments and I will scrupulously enforce the DSA and make full use of our new powers to investigate and sanction platforms where warranted”, added Mr Breton. The text provides for penalties of up to 6% of the global turnover of the offending company. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)