The Digital Services Act: ensuring a safe and accountable online environment

What are the key goals of the Digital Services Act?

The new rules are proportionate, foster innovation, growth and competitiveness, and facilitate the scaling up of smaller platforms, SMEs and start-ups. The responsibilities of users, platforms, and public authorities are rebalanced according to European values, placing citizens at the centre. The rules

• Better protect consumers and their fundamental rights online
• Establish a powerful transparency and a clear accountability framework for online platforms
• Foster innovation, growth and competitiveness within the single market

	For citizens More choice, lower prices Less exposure to illegal content Better protection of fundamental rights
	For providers of digital services Legal certainty, harmonisation of rules Easier to start-up and scale-up in Europe
	For business users of digital services More choice, lower prices Access to EU-wide markets through platforms Level-playing field against providers of illegal content
	For society at large Greater democratic control and oversight over systemic platforms Mitigation of systemic risks, such as manipulation or disinformation

Which providers are covered?

The Digital Services Act includes rules for online intermediary services, which millions of Europeans use every day. The obligations of different online players match their role, size and impact in the online ecosystem.

Intermediary services offering network infrastructure: Internet access providers, domain name registrars, including also: Hosting services such as cloud and webhosting services, including also: Online platforms bringing together sellers and consumers such as online marketplaces, app stores, collaborative economy platforms and social media platforms.   Very large online platforms pose particular risks in the dissemination of illegal content and societal harms. Specific rules are foreseen for platforms reaching more than 10% of 450 million consumers in Europe.

All online intermediaries offering their services in the single market, whether they are established in the EU or outside, will have to comply with the new rules. Micro and small companies will have obligations proportionate to their ability and size while ensuring they remain accountable.

New obligations

What is the impact of new obligations?

This means concretely:

• measures to counter illegal goods, services or content online, such as a mechanism for users to flag such content and for platforms to cooperate with “trusted flaggers”
• new obligations on traceability of business users in online market places, to help identify sellers of illegal goods.
• effective safeguards for users, including the possibility to challenge platforms’ content moderation decisions
• transparency measures for online platforms on a variety of issues, including on the algorithms used for recommendations
• obligations for very large platforms to prevent the misuse of their systems by taking risk-based action and by independent audits of their risk management systems
• access for researchers to key data of the largest platforms, in order to understand how online risks evolve
• oversight structure to address the complexity of the online space: EU countries will have the primary role, supported by a new European Board for Digital Services; for very large platforms, enhanced supervision and enforcement by the Commission

New rules in a nutshell

What are the next steps?

The European Parliament and Member States will discuss the Commission’s proposal according the ordinary legislative procedure. Once adopted, the new rules will be directly applicable across the EU.