On 17 February, the Digital Services Act (DSA) comes into force for all online intermediaries in the EU, to make the online environment safer, fairer and more transparent. All online platforms (except those with fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover of less than €10 million) must take the following measures:
- Fight illegal content by providing users with the means to flag illegal content and working with trusted flaggers;
- Protecting minors, including by prohibiting targeted advertising towards this vulnerable group;
- Providing users with information about advertising (e.g. why they are being shown the adverts and who has paid for these adverts?);
- Prohibiting targeted advertising based on sensitive information such as political, religious or sexual preferences;
- Users whose content is moderated will have to be provided with explanations, which will also be uploaded to the DSA Transparency database, and will have the possibility to complain about moderation decisions. Once a year, platforms will also have to publish a report on moderation procedures;
- Greater transparency for content recommendation systems. Terms and conditions will be more clearly communicated to users and will include the parameters under which the content recommendation system operates.
The DSA applies not only to online platforms, but also to hosting services and online intermediaries. These are subject to a specific subset of obligations under the DSA. Platforms that do not fall under the DSA (other than large platforms or large search engines) will be subject to Member State oversight by an independent regulator (the national Digital Service Regulator), which will ensure that even smaller players follow the rules. The European Commission and the above-mentioned independent regulators will also jointly set up a European Digital Service Board to ensure that the law is implemented on an equal footing and that all users in the EU have the same rights, regardless of where the online platform is based.
