The new EU law, which regulates the main digital platforms, applies to all digital services that connect consumers with products, services and content. Online platforms have three months to notify users.
The European Commission announced that the Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force today. The new rules seek to create a safer and more responsible online environment, applying to all digital services that connect consumers with products, services or content.
This means that there are new commitments for online platforms, in order to reduce risks for consumers and offer a range of user rights and protections. The law commits digital platforms to new transparency measures, becoming an international standard to regulate the single market.
Online platforms now have three months (until February 17) to inform active users of the new measures on their websites. The European Commission requires all platforms to report their user numbers and based on that it will determine whether it is a large online platform or a search engine. After receiving their designation from the committee, the entities involved will have four months to comply with the DSA rules. The deadline for the rules to be fully operational is February 17, 2024.
DSA wants to ensure greater protection for users, following the principle “what is illegal offline is also illegal online”. To this end, the law imposes new obligations on digital services and platforms that claim to be intermediaries to connect consumers with goods, services, and content, including search engines, social media, online marketplaces, and websites. .
These services must take measures to combat illegal products, services and content online, defend the fundamental rights and privacy of user data, increase transparency, regulate content moderation and will also be responsible for the algorithms they use.
There are “tougher” rules for online platforms and search engines with more than 45 million monthly users, which will be imposed by the European Commission and which include the prevention of systemic risks, such as illegal content, violation of fundamental rights, disruption of processes elections and violence, subject to independent audits.
Big platforms should allow their users to opt out of receiving recommendations based on specific profiles, as well as make data and algorithms accessible to law enforcement or researchers.
Anyone who violates the rules imposed by the DSA will be punished with heavy fines. Although incremental and dependent on the scope, the fines can reach 6% of the global turnover of the companies. In case of repeated infringements of the law, national courts may prohibit companies from entering European territory.
It should be remembered that, in addition to the Digital Services Law, the digital package proposed by the European Commission in December 2020 creates a new Digital Market Law (DMA), which regulates online competition and was published in the Official Gazette of the European Union. Union on October 12.
