Digital Services Act Now Applies to All Online Platforms in the EU

In its announcement, the Commission described the regulation as the EU's rulebook to make the online environment safer, fairer and more transparent. Since the end of August 2023, the rules had applied to the 19 very large online platforms and search engines designated in April 2023, which have more than 45 million monthly users in the EU; three further platforms designated in December 2023 have until the end of April 2024 to meet the strictest obligations.

What the rules require

All online platforms with users in the EU, except small and micro enterprises with fewer than 50 staff and annual turnover below €10 million, must provide ways for users to flag illegal content, goods and services, and give priority to notices from trusted flaggers. They must not target minors with advertising based on profiling, and may not target adverts using sensitive data such as political or religious beliefs or sexual preferences.

Platforms must also tell users why they are seeing an advert and who paid for it, give a statement of reasons for content moderation decisions such as removals or account suspensions, and upload those statements to the DSA Transparency Database. They must offer an internal complaint mechanism, publish a report on content moderation at least once a year, set out clear terms and conditions including the main parameters of recommender systems, and designate a point of contact for authorities and users. Hosting services and other intermediaries are subject to a narrower subset of obligations, as set out on the Commission's Digital Services Act policy page.

Who supervises

Platforms that are not designated as very large will be supervised by a national Digital Services Coordinator in the Member State where they are established. The Commission says these coordinators will handle user complaints, certify out-of-court dispute settlement bodies, award trusted flagger status, vet researchers' requests for data access and use investigation and enforcement powers, including inspections, fines and interim measures. Coordinators and the Commission together form the European Board for Digital Services, which meets for the first time on 19 February 2024.

What happens next

Businesses that host user content or operate marketplaces should check which tier of obligations applies to them and confirm their notice, complaint and transparency processes are working. The Commission has said it intends to adopt guidelines on risk mitigation for electoral processes in March 2024 and an implementing act on transparency report templates in May.

Sources

• European Commission: Digital Services Act starts applying to all online platforms in the EU
• European Commission: The Digital Services Act package