The European Commission has announced that specific Apple and Microsoft products, including Apple’s iMessage and Microsoft’s Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising, will not fall under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as gatekeeper services. This decision, part of the Commission’s comprehensive evaluation, indicates that these services do not meet the criteria for gatekeeper designation under the DMA. The landmark legislation aims to regulate dominant companies in the digital market, preventing misuse of market dominance. Despite this exemption, Apple and Microsoft will remain designated gatekeepers for other core platform services. The Commission’s decision concludes its investigation into the companies, focusing on fostering competition and monitoring market developments closely.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) has implications for several key players in the technology and digital sectors, affecting their operations and regulatory compliance. Here are a few examples of Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and services affected by the DMA and recent decisions:
Apple:
Microsoft:
Other Gatekeepers and Services:
The DMA’s emphasis on promoting competition, interoperability, and consumer choice has led to a reevaluation of the roles and responsibilities of VLOPs within the digital economy. This regulatory approach by the European Commission signifies a significant shift towards ensuring fairer and more open digital markets, with direct implications for how VLOPs operate within the European Economic Area.
New Designations: The European Commission has made a significant move under the Digital Services Act by designating three more Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs): Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos. This decision is based on these platforms exceeding the threshold of 45 million average monthly users in the EU. This follows the initial designation of 19 VLOPs and search engines on 25 April 2023.
Compliance Deadline: All online platforms and search engines, except small and microenterprises, must adhere to the general DSA obligations by 17 February 2024. These include user-friendly mechanisms for reporting illegal content, prioritizing notices from trusted flaggers, providing reasons for content restrictions, internal complaint systems for moderation appeals, prompt law enforcement notifications in case of criminal offenses, and enhanced privacy and security, especially for minors.
Stringent Rules for VLOPs: The newly designated VLOPs, including Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat, face additional specific measures. Within four months of their designation, they must:
Next Steps: The Commission will supervise these platforms in collaboration with Digital Services Coordinators from Member States, focusing on compliance, especially regarding minors’ protection and illegal content management. Background: The first batch of 19 VLOPs and search engines designated in April 2023 are set to meet their additional DSA obligations by the end of August. The overall enforcement of the DSA involves both the Commission and Digital Services Coordinators, to be appointed by Member States by 17 February 2024.
The European Commission has unveiled a significant enhancement to the Digital Services Act (DSA) with the launch of the Digital Services Act Transparency Database. This database serves as a regulatory repository, and its main purpose is to provide a public record of content moderation decisions made by online platform providers.
The database will house statements from online platform providers, detailing the reasons for their decisions to either remove or restrict access to certain pieces of content. This is in line with the requirements set out in the DSA, which mandates that platforms explain the rationale behind such decisions.
Starting from 17th February 2024, it will be mandatory for all online platform providers operating within the European Union to submit their data to this database. This is aimed at fostering transparency and accountability in the digital sphere.
Effective August 25, 2023, the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) now governs “very large online platforms” and “very large online search engines” that have more than 45 million active users in the EU. Under this new regulation, such companies must partake in yearly audits and actively combat disinformation. Non-compliance risks penalties, including fines that can reach up to 6% of a company’s worldwide revenue or even result in a ban. The full Act will be applicable to smaller websites starting early 2024. Big Tech is now under enhanced legal scrutiny, with obligations related to content safety, user targeting, and data sharing. In line with DSA obligations, Google has declared that it will provide targeted ad data to authorized researchers. There remains ongoing debate on whether these tech giants have sufficiently met EU regulatory standards.
🆕 Many of you are probably wondering: “but, what exactly is the Digital Services Act”?
The DSA was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on October 27, 2022, and sets some new and important rules for the online ecosystem.
As a website owner, marketer, publisher or any professional operating online, this is relevant news for you. If you’re curious to know more, keep reading! You’ll find more explanation below.
The Digital Services Act was presented along with the Digital Markets Act.
Together, they form a single set of new rules that will be applicable across the whole EU to create a safer and more open digital space, where the fundamental rights of users are protected. They also aim at establishing a level playing field for businesses.
🧐 Why is it needed? The rapid and widespread development of digital services has had both a negative and positive impact.
On one side, it fostered communication, access to information, and trade outside the Union. On the other side, it brought some concerns surrounding illegal goods, services and content, as well as manipulative algorithms to trick users.
👉 The European Legislation simply needs to evolve in order to address these new challenges.
The rules established by the DSA include, amongst others, new measures for:
Read the full document published in the Official Journal of the European Union here.
The DSA requirements took effect on January 1, 2024.
So-called VLOPs (also known as very large online platforms) — will be the first obligated to conform to the new compliance requirements.
The European Commission has given guidance on online platforms and search engines’ compliance with the DSA, specifically on reporting the number of users they have in the EU (which will be carefully examined by authorities).
If the published user numbers reach more than 10% of the EU’s population (45 million), the platform will most likely be defined as a very large online platform (VLOP) or search engine (VLOSE) and would be subject to additional obligations including:
More information here.
Therefore, in the first quarter of 2023, compliance obligations will probably start to weigh heavily on a number of larger IT companies and Big Tech giants.
“The Commission will be the primary regulator for very large online platforms (reaching 45 million users), while other platforms will be under the supervision of Member States where they are established.”
👉 Under the new DSA rules, dark patterns are prohibited. Learn more now about this topic and how to optimize your consent rate while avoiding dark patterns.
