Mediterranean Observer
On the 25th August 2023, the Digital Services Act has become fully enforceable for very large online platforms (VLOPs), including Booking.com. The law will also aim to address various challenges concerning illegal and harmful content.
Companies will have to comply with a list of obligations that ”aim at empowering and protecting users online, including minors, by requiring the designated services to assess and mitigate their systemic risks and to provide robust content moderation tools”. For example, under the new rules, VLOPs will be required to take down illegal content expeditiously, address and introduce measures targeting harmful content and allow users to easily report illegal content
If in breach of the law, companies could be faced with fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover.
You can find more information together with the list of companies impacted here.
Background
On 15 December 2020, the Commission made the proposal on the DSA together with the proposal on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as a comprehensive framework to ensure a safer, more fair digital space for all. Following the political agreement reached by the EU co-legislators one year ago, in April 2022, the DSA entered into force on 16 November 2022.
The DSA applies to all digital services that connect consumers to goods, services, or content. It creates comprehensive new obligations for online platforms to reduce harms and counter risks online, introduces strong protections for users’ rights online, and places digital platforms under a unique new transparency and accountability framework. Designed as a single, uniform set of rules for the EU, these rules will give users new protections and businesses legal certainty across the whole single market. The DSA is a first-of-a-kind regulatory toolbox globally and sets an international benchmark for a regulatory approach to online intermediaries.
