(Finance) – Il February 17 the law on digital services, the EU’s landmark body of law that aims to make the online environment safer, fairer and more transparent, starts to apply to all online intermediaries in the EU. Under the Digital Services Act, EU users are better protected from illegal goods and content, and their rights are protected on online platforms where they connect to other users, share information or purchase products.
New responsibilities for empowered platforms and users. All online platforms with users in the EU, except small and micro businesses employing fewer than 50 people and whose annual turnover is less than €10 million, must implement measures to:
– Countering illegal content, goods and services: Online platforms must provide users with the means to report illegal content, including goods and services. Furthermore, online platforms will have to cooperate with “trusted flags”, specialized bodies whose notifications will have to be considered a priority by the platforms.
– Protect minors: including a total ban on targeting minors with advertisements based on profiling or their personal data.
– Give users information about the advertisements they see, such as why the ads are shown to them and who paid for the advertising.
– Prohibit advertisements aimed at users based on sensitive data, such as political or religious beliefs, sexual preferences, etc.
– Provide reasons to an affected user for any content moderation decisions, such as content removal, account suspension, etc., and upload the reason to the Digital Services Act Transparency Database.
– Provide users with access to a complaints mechanism to challenge content moderation decisions.
– Publish a report on their content moderation practices at least once a year.
– They provide the user with clear terms and conditions and include the main parameters under which its content recommendation systems work.
– Designate a point of contact for authorities and users.
In addition to online platforms, the Digital Services Act also applies to hosting services (e.g. cloud services or domain name systems, basic services that connect users to the requested web addresses), as well as online intermediaries (e.g. Internet or domain service providers). Hosting services and online intermediaries are subject to a subset of obligations under the Digital Services Act.
Since the end of August 2023 the Digital Services Act has already applied to the 19 very large online platforms and search engines (VLOSE) designated in April 2023 (with more than 45 million monthly users on average). Three more platforms designated as very large online platforms in December 2023 have until the end of April to comply with the stricter obligations under the Digital Services Act. However, they will have to comply with the general obligations under the Digital Services Act starting tomorrow.
Digital service coordinators in the Member States
Platforms not designated as very large online platforms or very large online platforms will be supervised at Member State level by an independent regulator acting as a National Digital Services Coordinator (DSC). It will be up to DSCs to ensure that these platforms comply with the rules. DSCs will monitor and enforce the Digital Services Act for platforms established in their territory.
Practically, the coordinators of digital services:
– Be the first port of call for user complaints about violations of the Digital Services Act by any platform, including very large online platforms and very large online platforms. Where appropriate, the digital services coordinator shall forward the complaint to the digital services coordinator of the Member State in which the platform is established, accompanied, if necessary, by an opinion.
– Certify existing out-of-court redress mechanisms that allow users to process complaints and challenge content moderation decisions.
– Evaluate and award the status of trusted flagger to eligible applicants or independent bodies who have demonstrated expertise in detecting, identifying and reporting illegal content online.
– Deal with requests for access to very large online platforms and very large online platform data for specific searches. DSCs will supervise researchers and request access to data on their behalf.
– They have strong investigative and enforcement powers to ensure compliance with the Digital Services Act by providers established in their territory. They will be able to order inspections following an alleged violation of the Digital Services Law, impose fines on online platforms that do not comply with the Digital Services Law and impose provisional measures in case of serious damage to the public sphere.
The European Digital Services Board
The digital services coordinators and the Commission will constitute an independent advisory groupthe European Digital Services Board, to ensure that digital services law is applied consistently and that users across the EU enjoy the same rights, regardless of where online platforms are established.
The Committee will be consulted on the application of the Digital Services Act and will provide advice on issues relating to the Digital Services Act and may contribute to guidance and analysis. It will also contribute to the supervision of very large online platforms and very large online search engines and publish annual reports on key systemic risks and best practices to mitigate them. The board of directors will meet for the first time on February 19, 2024.
Next steps
In March 2024, the Commission intends to adopt guidance on risk mitigation measures for electoral processes. A public consultation on the delegated act on access to data is planned for April, with adoption by July and entry into force in October 2024. In May, the Commission plans to adopt an implementing act on transparency reporting templates.