EU Council Adopts Digital Services Act

News

06-10-2022

3 minutes read

On 4 October, the EU Council of Ministers (Council) formally adopted the Digital Services Act (DSA). This was the last step in the legislative process. The DSA is now certain to enter into force within 15 months (therefore ultimately 1 January 2024). The DSA is meant to apply to all providers of online intermediary services, although certain provisions only apply to digital platforms and very large platforms, respectively. These companies will be confronted with a large number of new obligations. The latter are defined as platforms that provide their services to a number of average monthly active recipients of the service in the EU equal to or higher than 45 million. All companies to which the DSA will apply should now prepare to ensure their compliance when the DSA enters into force.

In a press release dated 4 October 2022, the Council announced that it had formally adopted the DSA,

As we explained in a previous article, the DSA lays down certain responsibilities and accountability for providers of intermediary services, such as social media, online marketplaces, very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs). The rules become stricter to the extent that a company is bigger, which in practice means that larger intermediary services with significant impact on society (VLOPs and VLOSEs) are subject to stricter rules.

Most importantly, the DSA:

lays down special obligations for online marketplaces in order to combat the online sale of illegal products and services;
introduces measures to counter illegal content online and obligations for platforms to react quickly, while respecting fundamental rights;
better protects minors online by prohibiting platforms from using targeted advertising based on the use of minors’ personal data as defined in EU law;
imposes certain limits on the presentation of advertising and on the use of sensitive personal data for targeted advertising, including gender, race and religion;
bans misleading interfaces known as ‘dark patterns’ and practices aimed at misleading

Stricter rules apply for very large online platforms and search engines (VLOPs and VLOSEs), which will have to:

offer users a system for recommending content that is not based on profiling;
analyse the systemic risks they create – risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, negative effects on fundamental rights, on electoral processes and on gender-based violence or mental health.

With the Council’s formal approval, the legislative act is now adopted.

After being signed by the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council, it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will start to apply within fifteen months.

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