Digital Services Act
Digital Services Act (DSA) regulates digital service providers that act as intermediary services in connecting businesses to consumers.
What does this mean?
- Establishes various due diligence and risk management obligations for intermediary services to prevent the distribution of illegal content online and enhance content moderation practices, transparency, fair design and oversight of these services.
- Modernizes the current legal framework so that the intermediary services take more responsibility for the content they provide, and thus, protect users from illegal content while preserving their freedom of speech.
- Removes disincentives for companies to take voluntary measures to moderate illegal content, goods or services on their platforms. However, it does not create an obligation to actively monitor their platforms, as general monitoring is prohibited.
Who?
- Intermediary services whose services are directed to recipients in the EU.
- Differing rules for different types of intermediary services. As a general rule, the larger the platform and the more active role in managing online content, the greater the responsibility.
- Small and micro enterprises are exempted from certain stricter monitoring obligations but can adopt the best practices to gain a competitive advantage.
- Online platforms and online search engines with at least 45 million active monthly users are considered as “very large” and are subject to more stringent obligations and risk mitigation measures.
Consequences
- Fines of up to 6% of the company’s total worldwide annual turnover. The European Commission can issue fines directly against very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs).
Timeline
- The DSA entered into force on 16 November 2022, when the first set of provisions became effective. However, most provisions will be effective as of 17 February 2024. The DSA is EU regulation directly applicable in all Member States, however, it requires some national implementation which shall also enter into force on 17 February 2024.
