Digital Services Act – what you need to know
 

On 23 April 2022, the European Parliament and EU Member States agreed
on a proposal of the Digital Services Act (DSA)
[https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_2545], an
unprecedented new standard for the accountability of online platforms
regarding illegal and harmful content.

Proposed by the European Commission in December 2020, the DSA aims at
better protecting internet users and their fundamental rights. It also
defines a single set of rules in the internal market to help smaller
platforms to scale up.

Based on European values, the DSA applies EU-wide due diligence
obligations to all digital services that connect consumers to goods,
services, or content. These obligations address various online
intermediary services—including hosting services such as cloud
computing, very large search engines and platforms—and vary
depending on intermediaries´ role, size and impact on the online
ecosystems.

More concretely, the DSA contains ad-hoc measures to:

 	* counter illegal goods, services or content online,
 	* empower users and civil society,
 	* assess and mitigate risks,
 	* and enhance the supervision and enforcement of very large online
platforms.

After the formal approval by the European Parliament and Council, the
DSA will be directly applicable across the EU and will apply fifteen
months after entry into force or from 1 January 2024 (whichever
later). For the very large online platforms and  online search
engines, the DSA will apply even earlier, i.e., four months after
their designation.

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Publication Date/Time
2022-05-02T10:00:00+00:00
European Commission welcomes political agreement on rules ensuring a
safe and accountable online environment