EUROPEAN UNION
by young people. Under the DSA, providers of online platforms that are accessible to minors are required to put in place appropriate measures to ensure high levels of privacy, safety and security of minors on their services. VLOPs and VLOSEs must, for instance, consider the risk of minors finding content that could harm their “health, physical, mental and moral development”. According to the pre-amble, “such risks may arise, for example, in relation to the design of online interfaces which intentionally or unintentionally exploit the weaknesses and inexperience of minors or which may cause addictive behaviour”. This would also include gamification features, which can be very much akin to gambling-related content. These platforms and search engines must identify and assess the potential online risks for children and young people using their services. The protection of minors is also apparent in how the DSA regulates advertising, as it bans targeted advertising to minors based on profiling using the personal data of users of their services when they can establish with reasonable certainty that the recipient of the service is a minor. We can already see that Snapchat, Google, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook no longer allow advertisers to show targeted adverts to minors. The advertising regulations go beyond the protection of minors, however. 9 Online advertising The Digital Services Act covers any type of advertising, from digital marketing to issues- based advertising and political ads, and complements existing rules such as the General Data Protection Regulation, which already establishes, for example, rules on users’ consent or their right to object to targeted digital marketing.
In addition to advertising towards minors based on profiling, the DSA also bans targeted advertising based on profiling using special categories of personal data, such as sexual orientation or religious beliefs. Users have to be clearly informed whether and why they are targeted by specific advertising and who paid for the ad; they should also see very clearly when content is sponsored or organically posted on a platform and should also see when influencers are promoting commercial messages. For very large online platforms, the societal stakes are higher, and the rules include additional measures to mitigate risks and enable oversight. 10 They have to maintain and provide access to ad repositories, allowing researchers, civil society and authorities to inspect how ads were displayed and how they were targeted. They also need to assess whether and how their advertising systems are manipulated or otherwise contribute to societal risks, and take measures to mitigate these risks. Conclusion The Digital Services Act represents a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for digital services. The DSA does not directly impact the lottery and gambling industry in the sense that it targets gambling or lottery operators directly. However, the gambling and lottery business is being conducted more and more online, and online platforms have become an essential tool in engaging with players. In this respect, the rules imposed by the DSA on digital service providers effectively play a role in the legal landscape of online gambling, especially as regards illegal content and advertising on online platforms.
ROBBE VERBEKE Counsel, Vlaemminck.law
For more information contact robbe.verbeke@vlaemminck.law +32 476 25 39 25
9 See e.g. art. 26 of the DSA 10 Art. 39 of the DSA
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IMGL MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2024
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