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The Council today took an important step to ensure a safer online environment by approving Law on Digital Services (DSA). DSA protects the digital space from the spread of illegal content and ensures the protection of users’ basic rights.
The Digital Services Act is one of the most revolutionary horizontal EU regulations and I am convinced that it has the potential to become the “gold standard” for other regulators in the world. By setting new standards for a safer and more responsible online environment, the DSA marks the beginning of a new relationship between online platforms and users and regulators in the European Union and beyond.
Jozef Sikela, Minister of Industry and Trade
DSA is considered a the first in the world in the area of digital regulation: no other piece of legislation has this level of ambition to regulate platforms and online surveillance while preserving the basic principles of the internal market.
New rules online
The DSA defines clear responsibilities and accountabilities for intermediary service providers, such as social mediaon line marketsvery large online platforms (VLOP) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs). The rules are designed asymmetricallywhich means that larger intermediary services with a significant social impact (VLOP and VLOSE) are subject to stricter rules.
According to the DSA, platforms will not only need to be more transparent, but also maintainable responsible for their role in spreading illegal and harmful content. Among other things, DSA:
- prescribes special obligations for online markets in order to fight online sales of illegal products and services;
- introduces countermeasures illegal online content and obligations for platforms to respond quickly, while respecting fundamental rights;
- better protect minors online by prohibiting platforms from using them targeted advertising based on the use of personal data of minors as defined in EU law;
- imposes certain restrictions on the presentation of advertising and on the use of sensitive personal data for targeted advertising, including gender, race and religion;
- prohibits misleading interfaces known as ‘dark patterns’and practices aimed at misleading
Stricter rules apply to very large online platforms and search engines (VLOP and VLOSE), which will have to:
- offer users a content recommendation system that is not based on profiling;
- analyze systemic risks create – risks related to the spread of illegal content, negative effects on fundamental rights, on electoral processes and on gender-based violence or mental health.
Crisis mechanism
In the context of Russian aggression in Ukraine and special influence on manipulation online information, DSA introduces a crisis response mechanism. This mechanism will make it possible to analyze the impact of the activities of VLOP and VLOSE on the crisis in question and to quickly decide on proportional and effective measures to ensure respect for fundamental rights.
Background
The EU legal framework for digital services has not changed since the adoption of the e-commerce directive in 2000. Meanwhile, digital technologies, business models and services have changed in unprecedented tempo. To keep up with this pace, in December 2020 the European Commission presented a digital services package consisting of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The digital services package is the EU’s response to need to the regulate the digital space. Together, DSA and DMA define a framework adapted to the economic and democratic footprint of digital giants and introduce measures to protect users while supporting innovation in the digital economy.
On November 25, 2021, less than a year after the start of negotiations in the Council, member states unanimously agreed the position of the Council on DSA.
On 23 April 2022, the Council and the European Parliament reached an interim agreement on the DSA, which was endorsed by representatives of the EU member states on 15 June 2022.
Interim agreement on DMA adopted by the Council and the European Parliament on 24 March 2022, and signed by the Council and the European Parliament on 15 September 2022. The DMA will be published in Official Journal of the European Union October 13, 2022
Next steps
After the Council adopted the position of the European Parliament today, the legislative act was adopted.
After it is signed by the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council, it will be published in Official Journal of the European Union and it will start to apply fifteen months after its entry into force.
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