In theory, the Digital Services Act (DSA) entered into force in the fall of 2022, but its first concrete effects were to be felt from Friday August 25. It is indeed since midnight that the nineteen largest social networks, market places and other Internet search engines (AliExpress, Amazon Store, AppStore, Booking.com, Facebook, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Search, Google Shopping, Instagram, LinkedIn, Microsoft Bing, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Wikipedia, X – formerly Twitter –, YouTube, Zalando) must comply with this European legislation on digital services requiring them to better regulate their content. For months, most of these Internet giants have been preparing to meet the requirements of the European regulator. The American Amazon and the German Zalando have challenged their presence in the list drawn up by the European executive in court.
“Other major platforms to meet these obligations will be designated soon”, we promise the European Commission. As for the smaller ones, they will comply with the same rules from February 2024. But the latter will not be monitored by Brussels, but by the competent national authorities.
“Europe is the first jurisdiction in the world where online platforms no longer get a ‘free pass’ and set their own rules. They are now regulated entities in the same way as financial institutions”, assures Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, who was in charge of this legislation. The idea, as he has repeated over and over again for several years, is that “what is forbidden in the real world is also forbidden in the virtual world”.
“Clear guarantees”
“It’s a major cultural change since before, these platforms were more in a deregulated world”, comments Alexandre de Streel, academic co-director of the Center for Regulation in Europe and professor of European law at the University of Namur (Belgium). After Europe, other continents could take measures inspired by the DSA, in the United States, in Asia and in Oceania.
“Rather than relying on the goodwill of platforms or on an astute interpretation of the law, the EU has chosen to organize and restore trust and security in the digital space with rights, obligations and clear guarantees”, insists Thierry Breton.
As of August 25, all the platforms designated in April by the Commission – they each bring together at least 45 million users, or 10% of the European population – must take nearly forty measures. Legislation requires them, for example, to make understandable – even for a child – the famous “terms and conditions of use” that everyone validates, or to have a legal entity on European territory, as well as easily identifiable contact points.
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