The European Union has released the names of the 19 platforms affected by the application of the measure
Align or prepare to leave the European market. The shadow of ‘in or out’ linked to the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) stretches over big tech, intercepting social networks and search engines. And it is not excluded that it remains limited to the European Union. Given that, in Great Britain, Rishi Sunak’s government has presented a bill with similar contours. In the EU Gazette are the names of the 19 platforms affected by the measure, involving those that claimed to have over 45 million monthly active users at the end of February. The figures touch Google (with Search, Maps and Play), Apple’s AppStore, Meta (with Facebook, Instagram and YouTube), Amazon’s marketplace, Microsoft (with Bing and LinkedIn), and then Twitter, the Chinese TikTok (owned by the giant Bytedance) and AliExpress, Booking, Pinterest, Snapchat, Wikipedia and Zalando.
Breton ‘sheriff’ of the ‘digital Wild West
The new warning from the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has gone off for them. “The countdown has begun,” he said, pointing to 25 August as the most important deadline. From then on, ‘they will have to change their behavior’ if they want to stay in Europe. Four months to “fully comply with the special obligations” set out in the EU regulation, Breton recalled, emphasizing the need for transparency and protection for users, with particular attention to minors.
In detail, platforms will have to produce analyses of the risks connected to their services in terms of the dissemination of illegal content, violation of privacy or freedom of expression, and public health or safety, including the psychological well-being of minors. And then set up appropriate tools for more reliable content moderation – with the timely removal of illegal content – as well as opening up their algorithms to EU services and offering access to data to authorized researchers.
Rules and the DSA’s precepts are also valid for smaller companies, which will come into force on 17 February 2024. And which include a clampdown on profiling, a ban on using sensitive user data (gender, political orientation, religious affiliation, etc.) for targeted advertising, and transparency obligations. To make the climb steeper for the digital giants, there will also be a series of stress tests that Breton is determined to conduct himself. First in California, in June, at Musk’s unusual invitation to Twitter’s headquarters. And then in Asia at TikTok to better understand its ‘origins’ and ‘innovations’. And soon, the warning may also reach ‘four or five other majors. The clues lead to Telegram, AirBnB, PornHub and Spotify.
