The European Commission announced, on Friday 26 April, that it had designated the fashion online retailer Shein as Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
This company joins the 22 others already named as Very Large Online Platforms in the Commission’s initial designation of VLOPs (see EUROPE 13286/7, 13318/8).
Shein claimed to have more than 45 million monthly users in Europe, which automatically placed it above the threshold for designation as a VLOP.
Following this designation, Shein will have to comply with the most stringent rules under the DSA within four months of its notification (i.e. by the end of August 2024), such as the obligation to adopt specific measures to empower and protect users online, including minors, and duly assess and mitigate any systemic risks stemming from their services.
More specifically, the Commission expects the platform to diligently analyse the specific systemic risks with regard to the dissemination of illegal content and products and to produce at least one risk assessment report per year, the first of which must be provided to the Commission within four months.
Shein is also required to restructure its platform, including user interfaces, recommendation algorithms and terms of service, in order to mitigate and prevent risks to consumer safety and well-being.
Like all the other platforms, Shein must also improve the transparency of its algorithm and provide better access to the public data it collects.
Every six months, Shein will have to publish a transparency report on content moderation decisions and risk management.
Since 17 February 2024, Shein has had to comply with the so-called general obligations of the DSA.
In Europe, the platform has recently been criticised for its contribution to the problem of ‘fast fashion’ with its very low-priced items and its extremely high rate of catalogue renewal, to encourage consumption. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)