Major online platforms, including Facebook, Google and Twitter, will have to do more to tackle illegal content or face multibillion-dollar fines under a new European Union regulatory regime agreed on Saturday.
The Comprehensive Digital Services Act (DSA) could fine a company up to 6% of its global turnover for breaches of the rules – which would be $ 7 billion (£ 5.9 billion) in the case of a Facebook owner – while multiple breaches could to lead to a technology company is prohibited from doing business in the EU.
The new rules, which come into force in 2024, include:
Prohibition of advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race and political views.
Allowing EU governments to demand the removal of illegal content, including materials that promote terrorism, sexual abuse of children, hate speech and commercial fraud.
Forcing social media platforms to allow users to tag illegal content in an “easy and effective way” so that it can be removed quickly.
Online markets like Amazon will need similar systems for suspicious products, such as fake sneakers or dangerous toys.
The DSA is based on political and regulatory action against online platforms around the world. The United Kingdom is introducing an online safety bill that imposes a duty of care on technology companies to protect consumers from harmful content, while in the United States the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have filed antitrust actions against Google and Facebook.
The agreement came in the early hours of Saturday after more than 16 hours of talks between EU member states, the EU executive and European parliamentarians. The DSA is the second part of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s plan to take control of US technology giants.
Last month, it won the support of the 27-nation bloc and the European Parliament for remarkable rules called the Digital Markets Act, which could force Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft to change their core business practices in Europe.
“We have a deal on the DSA: The Digital Services Act will ensure that what is illegally offline is also seen and treated as illegal online – not as a slogan, but as a reality,” Vestager tweeted.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said: “With the DSA, the time for big online platforms that are behaving too big to interest them is coming to an end.
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Other measures in the DSA will require large online platforms and online search engines to take concrete action during a crisis. They were provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and related misinformation.
Companies may be forced to pass on data related to their algorithms to regulators and researchers. Companies also face an annual fee of up to 0.05% of global annual revenue to cover the cost of monitoring their compliance.
Flora Rebelo Arduini, director of corporate advocacy at SumOfUs, said: “This law is a huge victory for people across Europe who have risen to demand an end to an era of major technology abuse. It also sends a strong signal to leaders everywhere that citizens will not sit still while unregulated and unrestricted technology corporations wreak havoc on their communities.
In a statement, Google said: “As the law is finalized and implemented, the details will matter. We look forward to working with politicians to clarify other technical details to ensure that the law works for everyone. ”
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