At the beginning of this year, the European Union yet accepted 2 key acts governing the digital world: the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act. On Tuesday, the European Commission identified 19 major platforms on which peculiar obligations will be imposed in the digital service act. There will be immense penalties for wrongdoing.
– These very large platforms and search engines must address all the risks they pose to society, including public health, physical and intellectual well-being," said Thierry Breton, Commissioner of the interior Market, at a gathering with journalists. The list includes Google platforms (searcher, acquisition platform, maps and Google Play), Bing search engine (owned by Microsoft), Amazon stores, AppStore (owned by Apple), AliExpress and Zalando, social networking sites Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube media platform, Booking travel booking portal and Wikipedia. They all have a minimum of 45 million active users, i.e. exceeding the 10% EU population limit set in the EU Act.
Protection and selection
For users, 4 areas of commitments of large platforms are most important. First, more protection and more choice. Platforms will gotta control the risks posed by their content. This hazard is defined very widely: it can be about public health, intellectual health, etc. They must supply users with conditions for participation on a platform that is understandable in all EU languages. They must besides give them the chance to abandon profiling-based recommendations systems.
Every kind of advertising – whether in separate windows or in a search engine – based on delicate data specified as race, ethnicity or political views will be banned.
Secondly, 19 strategy platforms and search engines are to redesign their systems to guarantee peculiar protection of privacy and the safety of minors. They will request tools to verify age and parental control. Bing and Google search will block harmful materials that can respond to kid queries. Any advertising aimed at children will be prohibited.
Combating Disinformation
Thirdly, more careful moderating of content, little illegal content and little disinformation online.
– Restricting the dissemination of illegal content, combating misinformation and protecting freedom of speech will no longer be a civilian work but a legal obligation," Breton said.
Internet platforms and search engines will be required to adapt their advice strategy to prevent algorithmic enhancement of misinformation. It's a real problem that netizens experienced during elections or during pandemics. And now besides in the context of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
Breton besides referred to an example of the upcoming elections in Slovakia.
– I am peculiarly afraid about the strategy of moderation of Facebook content, which plays an crucial function in building the opinion of Slovak society. Tera Meta must thoroughly examine her strategy and fix it where necessary," said the French Commissioner.
Finally, the platforms will be forced to be more transparent. They will gotta clearly identify advertising and explain to their users why they see advertising and who promotes it. They're expected to explain how their advice systems work and what data they collect. They are to be subject to yearly independent audits as well as supervision by the Commission.
The systematic and serious shortcomings imposed on them are punishable by a punishment of up to 6% of the worldwide turnover of the company and even a temporary ban on the EU market.
The fresh obligations must be fulfilled by 25.8.2023. The European Commission offers companies alleged stress tests, simply to check how their strategy copes with fresh requirements. This test has already been ordered by Twitter – it will be conducted with representatives of the EC at the company's office in San Francisco. TikTok besides expressed interest in the test, and the Commission encourages another major platforms to do so.
