The EU Digital Services Act met with political agreement
The EU Digital Services Act achieved political agreement, aiming to tackle illegal content and ensure online platforms follow rules like those offline. Key obligations include transparency in algorithms, fighting disinformation, removing illegal content, and protecting user data and minors from targeted advertising.
The European Commission announced that the European Council and the European Parliament have reached a political agreement on the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). The Act was originally proposed by the Commission in December 2020 together with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which received a political agreement last month as well. To tackle the prevalence of illegal content, goods, and services in the digital space, the DSA brings to effect the principle, in the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s words, “what is illegal offline should be illegal online.” The main obligations, especially for very large online platforms (VLOPs), include:
- Ensuring algorithmic transparency and accountability
- Combatting online disinformation
- Removing illegal contents, products, and services
- Guaranteeing individual users more choices with regard to how their data is used
- Protecting minors by fully banning targeted advertising
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