On 17 February was the deadline set in the Digital Services Act (DSA) for all online platforms and online search engines (except micro and small enterprises) to publish their user numbers in the EU for the first time.
They will have to do so at least once every six months from now onwards. The Commission recently published non-binding guidance in all EU languages to help companies in scope of the DSA to comply with this requirement.
The purpose of this requirement is to determine whether online platforms and online search engines may be very large online platforms (VLOPs) or very large online search engines (VLOSEs) under the DSA, defined as those reaching more than 10% of the EU’s population or 45 million users. Those large platforms and search engines will be subject to additional obligations, such as making a risk assessment and taking corresponding risk mitigation measures, highlighted here.
The Commission is also launching a public consultation on DSA enforcement procedures. The consultation will last one month, until 16 March 2023, and will help shape the final Commission enforcement rules.
The DSA, which entered into force on 16 November 2022, creates an unprecedented level of public oversight of online platforms across the Union, both at national and EU level. It empowers the Commission to adopt procedural rules in relation to the enforcement of the DSA. The draft implementing regulation aims to ensure effective proceedings under the DSA, provide legal certainty on procedural rights and obligations to the companies concerned. These include the right for parties to be heard, and to access the file, but also the monitoring actions of the Commission which can order VLOPs and VLOSEs to provide access to, and explanations relating to, their databases and algorithms.
More information on the Digital Services Act
Source: European Commission I Digital (https://bit.ly/3XJkD4q)