22/2/2024
February 20, 2024
The Digital Services Act (DSA) now fully enforced in the EU, aims to regulate digital platforms, ensuring they combat illegal content and maintain transparency. It affects a wide range of services, from social media to e-commerce, with stringent penalties for non-compliance.
The Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark regulation by the European Commission, marks a significant shift in the digital landscape for companies providing intermediary services to European users. Enforced from February 17, 2024, this comprehensive framework aims to curb the spread of illegal content, such as hate speech, child pornography, terrorism, and disinformation online, while promoting transparency and accountability among digital platforms.
Initially, in April 2023, European Commissioner Thierry Breton announced a list of major platforms, including e-commerce giants (Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, Booking.com), social networks (Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok), and search engines (Google, Bing), that would be subject to the DSA. By December, adult content platforms like Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos were also added. The DSA now extends beyond these entities to encompass all companies offering "intermediary services" to European internet users, regardless of their geographical location.
Proposed by the European Commission in December 2020, the DSA was adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council in October 2022. The regulation became applicable to the aforementioned major platforms on August 25, 2023, and fully came into effect for all digital platforms on February 17, 2024.
The DSA introduces several measures focusing on:
The DSA empowers each EU member state to designate an independent "digital services coordinator" to enforce compliance within its jurisdiction. Non-compliant platforms face fines up to 6% of their global turnover and, in severe cases, can be banned from operating within the EU.