Explained | What are Europe’s new Internet rules and how will they impact big tech?

The Digital Services Act aims to tackle hate speech, disinformation, and other harmful and illegal content online.

The story so far: The European Union (EU) member states and the European Parliament on April 23 secured a landmark agreement to tackle harmful content online through the Digital Services Act. The European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the EU, had proposed the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act in December 2020 in order to “protect consumers and their fundamental rights online”.

“The Digital Services Act will ensure that the online environment remains a safe space, safeguarding freedom of expression and opportunities for digital businesses,” EU President Ursula von der Leyen said.

The Digital Services Act aims to tackle hate speech, disinformation, and other harmful and illegal content online, making technology companies more accountable for the content created by users. Failure to police content by tech companies can potentially lead to fines running into billions of dollars.

Under the Digital Services Act, tech companies will be required to limit the use of personal data for targeted advertising based on ethnicity, political views, or sexual orientation, and provide a mechanism for users to flag illegal content and for platforms to cooperate with “trusted flaggers”. The agreement also empowers users by providing them with enhanced opportunities to challenge content moderation decisions, and transparency measures like information on algorithms used for recommending content or products to users. Tech companies will be obligated to set up procedures that can swiftly adapt to crises related to public security and public health, and use newer safeguards for the protection of minors.

The EC consulted a wide range of stakeholders, including the private sector, users of digital services, civil society organisations, national authorities, academia, technical community, international organisations and the general public, to formulate the agreement.

The political agreement is now subject to formal approval by the two co-legislators – the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

The Digital Services Act is likely to come into force as early as 2024.