The EU law: Digital Services Act will completely re-shape the online world Google .
Meta, Google And Others Will Have to Explain Their Algorithms Now. The new European Union law asks the digital companies to share their algorithms under the Digital Services Act.
It has always been a challenge for the legislative bodies to control online activities. On Saturday, European Union came to agree on another ambitious bill to put regulations on the online entities. During Early Saturday hours, after hours of discussions, the legislative body came to terms with the Digital Services Act or DSA. This act will force major tech companies to be more accountable for the content that circulates on their platform. The new law includes removing illegal goods and content far more quickly than the current situation, making it clear to the researchers and users how their algorithms operate. In addition to this, the companies are required to take stricter actions against the ones spreading rumors and misinformation. The EU Act will impose a strict fine of up to six percent of the company’s turnover in case they fail to comply.
“The DSA will upgrade the ground rules for all online services in the EU,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a statement. “It gives practical effect to the principle that what is illegal offline, should be illegal online. The greater the size, the greater the responsibilities of online platforms.”
The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, who has led much of EU’s tech regulations stated that the act would “ensure that platforms are held accountable for the risks their services can pose to society and citizens.”
DSA cannot be mistaken as DMA or the Digital Markets Acts which was finalized in March. Both the acts regulate the tech world but while DMA gives a level playing field to all the tech companies, DSA regulates the accountability of the content on the platform.
Digital Service Act
While the final text of the DSA Act has yet to be released, the European Commission and European Parliament have issued an of details that it will contain:
- Target Based Advertising will no longer be able to be targeted an individual’s religion, race, or gender. Minors cannot be targeted for advertisement.
- Confusing or misleading, “Dark Patterns” that use misleading interfaces, leading users to make certain choices, will be completely banned. Moreover, opting out of subscriptions should be made as easy as signing up.
- Tech giants like Facebook will have to explain their algorithms to the user to ensure complete transparency.
- Hosting Services and online platforms will be required to explain why they removed illegal content while giving the users an appeal for such removals. The DSA, however, does not decide what is termed illegal content. That is left to each country’s discretion.
- Online markets will be required to keep basic merchant information that will come in handy while tracking individuals selling illegal goods.
- During a crisis, major platforms will have to introduce new strategies to deal with misleading content.
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DSA will monitor major platforms like Google, and Facebook, that has more than 45 million users, more closely making it imperative for the larger corporations to ensure compliance. Although the terms have been finalized, the language of the At and formal voting is still pending on the Act. The law will formally apply to the companies 15 months after the approval of the act, probably around 1 January 2024.
