What does the Digital Services Act (DSA) mean for your business?
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is a new European law that has a major impact on companies operating as brokering services on the Internet. Brokering services are services that function as links between providers and users. Examples include platforms that store, share or distribute content. The Digital Services Act applies to search engines, B2C marketplaces, hosting services (such as web hosting, video hosting and social networking), app stores, cloud providers, online travel and accommodation platforms, Internet service providers and content-sharing platforms such as video platforms, Internet service providers, VPNs and VoIP calling services as of Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. The DSA imposes specific obligations on these services, especially when it comes to dealing with illegal or unwanted content.
Stricter requirements
For example, the DSA sets stricter requirements for very large online platforms and search engines (think platforms with more than 45 million users in the EU). Among other things, these parties must be extra transparent about advertisements, limit risks for users, and have independent audits performed. The law also brings new rules and responsibilities for SMEs operating as brokering services. Find out below what the DSA means for your business.
Key obligations under the DSA
As a brokering service, under the DSA you have to deal with:
- Central point of contact: There must be a central point of contact for users and authorities. This point is intended to answer general questions, provide support and possibly receive other requests from users or authorities. The contact point ensures that there is a clear way to get in touch with your company.
- Effective content moderation: Companies are responsible for what is shared through their platform. The content users upload must be managed and controlled. This may include removing certain content, making it less visible, or suspending accounts. These measures should be implemented carefully, objectively and transparently.
- Illegal content hotline: There should be a user-friendly system for easy reporting of illegal content. This hotline for illegal content has a more specific function than the central contact point: the system is intended to allow users to easily report content that violates the law or the platform's rules. This hotline must function accurately and well-supported.
- Duty to report offenses: If your platform encounters situations that threaten the safety of individuals, you must report this to the appropriate authorities.
Who supervises compliance with the DSA in the Netherlands?
At this time, the ACM has not yet been officially designated as the regulator of the DSA. The law to regulate this is not yet in force. This is expected to happen sometime in 2025. Until then, the ACM has no authority to impose fines or make binding decisions, for example. In the meantime, the ACM acts as digital services coordinator. This means that the ACM does already perform some tasks, such as receiving and forwarding notifications. These reports can be passed on, for example, to the European Commission or other regulators within the European Union.
In brief
The Digital Services Act (DSA) places responsibility on brokering services for what happens through their platform. This requires clear processes, such as a hotline for illegal content and transparent content moderation. By complying with the rules of the DSA, you can not only prevent problems, but also increase user and customer trust. Therefore, make sure your processes are in order, set up a hotline, and communicate clearly how you handle content and requests. This is how you make your company future-proof within this new legislation. Want to know more? Read the Guideline on DSA for digital service providers of the ACM.