A dozen of the world’s largest tech companies face unprecedented legal scrutiny as the European Union’s sweeping Digital Services Act (DSA) this month imposes new rules on content moderation, user privacy and transparency.
Across the EU, many internet giants — including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, Chinese-owned video app TikTok and some Google services — are adapting to new obligations, including preventing the spread of harmful content and banning or restricting certain users — targeting Practice, and share some internal data with regulators and relevant researchers.
The EU, seen as a global leader in tech regulation, is working on broader legislation such as the Digital Markets Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act. Successful implementation of such laws in the EU will influence the introduction of similar rules around the world.
But the researchers questioned whether the companies were doing enough to meet lawmakers’ expectations.
Currently, the rules only apply to the 19 largest online platforms, which have more than 45 million users in the EU. However, starting in mid-February, they will be available for a variety of online platforms, regardless of size.
Any company that violates the DSA faces fines of up to 6% of its global turnover, and repeat offenders could be banned from doing business in Europe entirely.
Reuters asked each company designated by the DSA to discuss the changes they had made. Most referred to public blog posts on the matter and declined to comment further, or did not respond at all.
Two companies singled out for early regulation, e-commerce giant Amazon and German fashion retailer Zalando, are now challenging their inclusion in court.
“We can expect platforms to go to great lengths to defend their practices,” said Kingsley Hayes, director of data and privacy litigation at law firm Keller Postman. “Especially when new compliance rules when infringing on its core business model.”
pressure test
Over the past few months, the European Commission said it had proposed DSA “stress tests” for 19 platforms.
Such tests assess whether the platforms are capable of “detecting, addressing and mitigating systemic risks such as disinformation,” a commission spokesman said.
At least five platforms participated in such tests — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (now X), TikTok, and Snapchat. In each case, more work needs to be done to prepare for DSA, the committee said.
Now, even as the rules take effect, research released Thursday by the nonprofit Eko shows that Facebook is still approving online ads that contain harmful content.
The group submitted 13 ads for approval containing harmful content, including one inciting violence against immigrants and another calling for the assassination of a prominent member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Within 24 hours, Facebook approved eight of the submitted ads and rejected five, Eko said. The researchers removed the ads before they were posted so Facebook users wouldn’t see them.
In response to the Eko study, Meta said: “This report is based on a very small sample of ads and is not representative of the number of ads we review around the world on a daily basis.”
This year, another nonprofit, Global Witness, claimed that Facebook, TikTok and Google-owned YouTube had all approved ads inciting violence against Ireland’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.
In response to the Global Witness study, both Meta and TikTok said at the time that hate speech had no place on their platforms and that they regularly review and improve their procedures. Google did not respond to a request for comment.
tricky business
While none of the companies named said they would violate the DSA, Amazon and Zalando disputed their inclusion on the list.
In July, Amazon filed legal action with the General Court of Luxembourg, Europe’s second highest court, arguing that larger competitors in those countries have not been named.
It still introduced a number of new features as part of its DSA compliance program, such as a new channel for users to report incorrect product information.
Fashion retailer Zalando launched a similar legal challenge, saying it fell below the 45 million user threshold because it only has 31 million monthly active users buying from third-party sellers on its platform.
Hayes said it would soon be discovered whether any of the named companies “evaded legal responsibility”. “Removing these obligations is going to be tricky for any platform with a large user base.”
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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