To speak of the Internet is to speak of one of the best inventions of the human being. Thanks to it, millions of people in the world have access to countless products and services, and that is why it is important that it remains open and global. For this, it is necessary that some laws come into play, and that is why Europe has been working for some time on the approval of two new laws that intend to change everything. These two have already been approved in the first instance, and we will tell you more about them.
It should be noted that these regulations still have to go through a series of mechanisms for them to come into force. Now that they are already approved in the European Parliament, it will be necessary for them to also pass through the European Council. Once they are approved in both, the two regulations will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and will enter into force twenty days after their publication. Once published in it, the Digital Services Law will begin to apply in 15 months or from January 1, 2024, whichever date is later. On the other hand, the Digital Markets Law will begin to apply 6 months after it appears in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Digital Services Act or DSA
What this new norm seeks is to regulate the responsibility of intermediaries in the digital world. This law consists of a series of regulations that are aimed at these entities that are used by millions of European citizens on a daily basis. Among these entities that we mention we can find the following:
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Intermediation services: these offer network infrastructures such as Internet access providers.
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Data hosting services: such as cloud services and web hosting.
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Online Platforms – Bring sellers and consumers together, such as online marketplaces, app stores, sharing economy platforms, and social media platforms.
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Very large online platforms: these plan special risks in terms of dissemination of illegal and harmful content for society.
These laws will apply to all intermediaries providing their services in the single market, whether they are established in the EU or outside it. Micro and small businesses will have obligations in proportion to their capacities and dimensions, without forgetting their obligation to render accounts.
As we will see just below, one of the objectives of this new Digital Services Law is to improve the mechanisms used to eliminate illegal content, in addition to the effective protection of the fundamental rights of users, including the freedom of expression. In addition, the Law introduces a series of measures for the supervision of large platforms that reach at least 10% of the population of the European Union.
Among the measures established in this new Law, these are the most outstanding:
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Quick removal of illegal content
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More responsible and safe markets, with greater controls on businesses that operate on the Internet
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A stronger fight against fake news
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Transparent content recommendation systems
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Tighter control of targeted advertising
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Possibility of access to its algorithms
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Independent evaluations and audits
Digital Markets Law or DMA
The main objective of this Digital Markets Law is to prevent the so-called gatekeepers from imposing unfair conditions on companies and end users, in addition to guaranteeing the open nature of the most important digital services. Any company that plays a particularly important role in the internal market due to its size and importance is considered a gatekeeper. To be considered a gatekeeper, three cumulative conditions must be met : a size that affects the internal market, control of an important gateway between professional users and end consumers, and a well-established and lasting position in the market.
If one of these gatekeepers fails to comply, the Commission may impose fines of up to 10% of the company's total annual worldwide turnover, or even 20% for repeated infringements, in addition to periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of the company's total worldwide daily turnover.
Among the most important measures proposed by this new Law, we find the following:
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It will be prohibited for companies to give preferential treatment on their platforms to their own services and products to the detriment of third parties.
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The need for explicit consent to use targeted advertising.
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Full freedom will be given to use any browser, search engine or virtual personal assistant.
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Messaging services like those from Meta or Apple will need to be open and interoperable with other smaller platforms.
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The mergers and acquisitions that occur will be closely monitored by the Commission to prevent concentrations from occurring that limit digital competition.
