Big Tech under EU surveillance: in 4 months they will have to align with the DSA regulation
The Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Bretonannounced that the EU Commission has inserted Google, AppleFacebook, AmazonTwitter and TikTok in the big 19 list digital platforms under surveillance since 25 August. L’list also includes AliExpress, Bing, Booking, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Wikipedia, YouTube and Zalando but more companies may be added in the future.
Breton warned that big tech “will have to change their behavior if they want to continue operating in Europe”. In fact, companies will have to comply with the transparency and reliability obligations established by the Digital Services Act (DSA), the regulation approved by the EU to curb the so-called “digital far west”.
“They will not be able to act as if they are too big to care,” Breton told Politico. “The countdown is starting for 19 large online platforms and search engines to fully comply with the special obligations that the Digital Services Act imposes on them,” he added.
Minor focus, systemic risks and contained moderation
The nineteen platforms have been designated based on their own user base, which for each reaches at least 45 million people active online every month. From today the majors will have four months to align theirs policies ai stakes inserted in DSA. The most pressing requests from Brussels concern the protection of online users, with particular attention to minors, the prevention of systemic risks and the moderation of content.
Between novelty most important is the introduction of reporting systems illegal content which the platforms will then have to examine and eventually remove in a timely manner. They can then no longer be viewed advertisements based on sensitive user data – such as ethnic origin, political opinions or sexual orientation – with a de facto prohibition of profiling. All ads on these platforms will also need to include a label about who paid for them and the terms and conditions contracts will need to have a summary in a “simple language” and in the different languages of the countries in which they operate.
The tech giants are then called to redesign their systems
Objective: to guarantee a high level of privacy, security and safety of minors, with special ratings risk assessments that also include potential adverse effects on their mental health. EU rules also provide for the adoption of measures against disinformation. For those who violate the rules are foreseen many up to 6% of the annual turnover and, in case of recurrence, the prohibition to operate on the European territory.
(Ticker)