EUROPEAN UNION
which imposes a long list of obligations and prohibitions on digital platforms that are designated as “gatekeepers”, seeking to ensure fair and contestable digital markets in the EU. 2 Each is a core component of the EU’s wide-reaching reform of digital sector regulation (“The European Digital Decade”) and, in combination, the two pieces of legislation create a strong regulatory regime for the digital environment in Europe. DSA focuses on online content regulation and user protection, while the DMA seeks to prevent large and influential digital companies from implementing practices that are considered to limit competition or to be otherwise unfair. The DSA introduces wide-ranging obligations on intermediaries and new rights for users, including: • updating the regime for intermediary liability for third- party content, • rules to trace sellers on online marketplaces, • mechanisms to address illegal content, goods and services, • increased rights for users, including the right to challenge moderation decisions, • increased transparency requirements for online platforms, • obligations for the protection of minors, • new limits on targeted advertising and much more.
The DSA will apply to a range of providers of digital “intermediary services”, where such services are offered to natural or legal person recipients that are established or located in the EU. In practice, this will catch a broad range of businesses, including internet service providers, cloud providers and web hosting platforms, social media networks, online search engines, web-based messaging services and email services, domain name registrars, voice over IP services, and online platforms including app stores and online marketplaces which store or transmit the content of third parties. The concept of “offering” services is broad under the DSA, with providers of worldwide intermediary services included if they enable use of their service by EU users and have a “substantial connection” to the EU, such as targeting activities towards a Member State. Further, the DSA imposes specific obligations related to the content, format and accessibility of documents and information, such as terms and conditions. Online platforms will have to disclose information on their number of average monthly active recipients and these obligations will require efficient internal mechanisms. Businesses need to prepare in advance for new obligations requiring the adaptation of the design, presentation and/or functioning of their online interfaces.
2 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_20_2349
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen is seen as a champion of Europe§’s Digital Decade
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IMGL MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2023
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