What to Know About the EU’s Latest Big Tech Policing Law

Culminating in a 16-hour negotiation, the European Union reached a deal on Saturday on a regulation that will effectively force tech giants like Meta and Google to combat misinformation, illegal content and restrict ads based on a person’s sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion. The EU law, called the Digital Service Act (DSA), also aims to crack down on dark patterns or deceptive tactics that mislead people toward certain products and services. The law requires businesses of very large online platforms and very large online search engines with more than 45 million monthly active users to comply with the rules and carry out risk reduction analysis—or implement new procedures to control the spread of illegal content, terrorist propaganda and child abuse. For instance, online marketplaces like Amazon will be mandated to prevent the sales of illegal goods under the new rules. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the agreement “historic,” via a statement. “It will ensure that the online environment remains a safe space, safeguarding freedom of expression and opportunities for digital businesses,” she said. Tech platforms have been targeted by regulators over recent years for misdemeanors running the gamut from data transfer to online privacy. With the DSA, Europe—often a front runner in privacy regulation—is pulling out the big guns. But this is just one of many approaches to reign in tech supremacy. But for publishers, there are potential repercussions from the new rules coming into play. Noncompliance with the new laws—which are expected to come into effect by January 1, 2024, pending approval from co-legislators—will risk fines of 6% of the global revenue of social media giants. This could be billions of dollars based on the sales figures of the likes of Facebook, Amazon and Google. Ultimately, a permanent ban is on the cards if tech giants continuously fail to comply with the rules. As a result, big tech platforms are going to have more obligations and “one can assume they're going to try to pass some liability on to others who are providing content to their platforms,” said Gary Kibel, a privacy and data security lawyer at Davis and Gilbert. The EU Takes Another Jab at Big Tech With Flagship Digital Markets Act The liabilities could range from more content oversight to new contractual obligations for advertisers, who may need to reassess their approach to soliciting engagement from users—while strategizing where ads appear across these platforms. Independent news media at the mercy of big tech While the new rules go some way in holding tech platforms accountable for how they handle illegal content—and their use of personal data—some publishing groups believe there is still a way to go to improve the dynamics of platform and publisher relationships. Ultimately, platforms, with their huge reach, still have a lot of control over what European citizens have access to. “Publishers are concerned that online platforms can continue to moderate or censor journalistic content at their discretion," said Wout van Wijk, executive director at trade body News Media Europe. "This basically puts press publishers and press freedom at the mercy of big tech, without any concrete obligation to cooperate with newsrooms for the protection of journalistic content. This gives these platforms a lot of power.” The trade body points out that the mechanisms for upholding the DSA are done in retrospect, which is not necessarily helpful given the short lifespan of a news article. Furthermore, there's concern the rules will progress beyond platforms to ban targeted ads overall, which are a crucial source of revenue for independent news media. IAB Europe Considers Legal Action After Fine for Breaching GDPR Rules The DSA is a part of a two-fold blow by the EU to address the challenges posed by the emergence of tech giants and the protection of online users. Last month, the EU pushed forward the Digital Markets Act that aims to rein in the global dominance of big tech platforms like Google, Apple and Meta, while regulating online ads and internet shopping. This, along with policing the transatlantic data flow, cements the EU as the global flagbearer of tech regulation. Although the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S Justice Department have levied major antitrust actions against the internet gatekeepers, Congress remains reticent to address the societal effects of tech giants, as relating to online privacy and hate speech.

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What to Know About the EU’s Latest Big Tech Policing Law

Noncompliance with the Digital Service Act can lead to billions of dollars in fines

Trishla Ostwal

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Trishla Ostwal