The new sheriffs in (the online) town: Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) rulebooks

The European Parliament has approved the new Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Acts (DMA) rulebooks, which set out unprecedented standards on the accountability of online companies within an open and competitive digital market.

What is illegal offline should be illegal online

The Digital Services Act (DSA) sets clear obligations for digital service providers, such as social media or marketplaces, to tackle the spread of illegal content, online disinformation and other societal risks.

Some of its applications are:

• New measures to counter illegal content online and obligations for platforms to react quickly.
• Strengthened traceability and checks on traders in online marketplaces.
• Increased transparency and accountability of platforms.
• Bans on misleading practices and certain types of targeted advertising.

On the other hand, theDigital Markets Act (DMA) sets obligations for large online platforms acting as “gatekeepers” (platforms whose dominant online position make those obligations hard for consumers to avoid) on the digital market to ensure a fairer business environment and more services for consumers.

Then mentioned ‘gatekeepers’ must:

• Allow third parties to inter-operate with their own services
• Allow business users to access the data they generate

Also, they won’t be able to rank their own services or products more favourably than other third parties, prevent users from easily un-installing any preloaded software or apps, and process users’ personal data for targeted advertising.

If a gatekeeper does not comply with the rules, the Commission canimpose fines up to 20% of its total worldwide turnover.

In the words of Christel Schaldemose, rapporteur for Digital Services Act:

‘’For too long tech giants have benefited from an absence of rules. The digital world has developed into a Wild West, with the biggest and strongest setting the rules. But there is a new sheriff in town - the DSA. Now rules and rights will be strengthened. We are opening up the black box of algorithms so that we can have a proper look at the money making machines behind these social platforms’’.

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These types of rules and regulations are essential and mandatory to build the Next Generation Internet in Europe. If you want to know more about these types of initiatives, join us in the NGI Community and keep in the loop with all the trends and news for a safer and more trustworthy Internet!

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