The European Union announced the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) as the most comprehensive regulation ever of the Internet sphere and practically everything that exists in it: content, information, products and services.
The first of the two laws, DSA, whose deadline for implementation is February 2024, aims at user safety, full transparency of platforms, removal of illegal content, goods and services, as well as the fight against disinformation. For the first time, unique mechanisms are being set up for reporting and rapid removal of illegal content, but with the protection of the basic right to free speech. Platforms will have to provide the ability for users to appeal deleted content or account suspension with judicial jurisdiction as a second step. Algorithms that recommend content will be explained in detail to users, who will be able to “unsubscribe” from them and follow their feed chronologically, not by affinities. Exiting the algorithm will not mean the end of profiling or profile advertising, but sensitive personal data, such as ethnic or sexual affiliation, will be omitted from it. Special provisions prohibit advertising targeted at minors, as well as “dark pattern” practices, which through text, design and UX “softly” lead users to their products and services.
Platforms de facto become legally responsible for everything that is placed on them, even if they are only intermediaries in that chain. It is no secret that one of the main reasons for this law is the information level of the war in Ukraine, which is being conducted in the media and on social networks. It remains unclear how the credibility of information, images and videos will be determined. Whether Meta’s fact-checkers, which in many cases turned out to be politically tinged, and the self-regulation offered by X through user-added context, will now replace the EU agencies being set up – effectively state censors – remains to be seen.
The largest online platforms and search engines will be particularly affected by this regulation, which will have to submit six-monthly reports on compliance with the law. The others will submit reports once a year, but self-regulation will no longer be left to anyone, but checks will be performed by external auditors.
Immediately afterwards, at the beginning of March, the DMA will enter into force, which should limit the dominant market position of large platforms and make the Internet more competitive and accessible to medium and small players, and give consumers more choice. Large platforms will no longer be able to favor their own products and services in searches; user tracking will only be possible with explicit consent, and opting out of this option will be as simple as consent; users will even be able to delete apps installed with the device or operating system. DMA will cover all social networks, search engines, e-commerce platforms and services for messaging and video content.
This law is a reaction to the expansion of the hard and soft monopoly of Internet giants, mostly originating from the USA, through which we have all become somewhat American in terms of limited consumer rights, which is unacceptable to Europeans.
Both laws are extensive and require months of careful preparation and implementation. Similar to GDPR, the work does not end there, but just begins: after the preparations are completed, DSA and DMA become a continuous process of evaluating compliance and reporting to regulatory bodies, under the constant threat of penalty provisions.
Already in the first half of 2024, it should be clear how these newspapers will affect digital innovations, profile advertising, analytics, and even the prices at which we will reach the desired target groups in digital.
