Thread by @AlexandraGeese

Last Friday, the #DigitalServicesAct deal was agreed. The #DSA is a gamechanger for our lives, society & the internet. It's incredibly important for regulating digital services, in particular the very big online platforms. But what does the deal mean & what's in it? Long 🧵

Clear rules for illegal content: In future, orders by judicial and administrative authorities of the Member States against illegal content (Article 8) and orders for information (Article 9). #DigitalServicesAct

All online services must have a contact point or legal representative in the EU. This also applies to services like Telegram. No one can operate on the market in Europe without complying with European law. #DigitalServicesAct

Stronger user rights: Terms and conditions that set rules for content moderation must be applied in an objective & non-arbitrary way. Online services are obliged to respect the fundamental rights of their users when applying & enforcing their terms.
#DigitalServicesAct

Meaningful transparency: Content moderation must be explained annually in public, machine-readable transparency reports (Articles 13, 23 and 33).
#DigitalServicesAct

Users will have harmonised notification procedures across Europe to quickly & easily report potentially illegal content online (Arti 14). But users will also get information on take-downs and complaints procedures have to be set up by platforms (Art 15,17).
#DigitalServicesAct

We pushed through a ban on profiling for advertising purposes based on sensitive data (e.g. political, sexual orientation, trade union membership, religion in Art. 24) and on the data of minors. This is an important first step in reducing profiling. #DigitalServicesAct

The DSA includes a ban on dark patterns (Art. 23a) that deceive or push users into consenting or buying. But: the text was weakened in the final round of negotiations so that practices already covered by existing legislation aren't included in this ban. #DigitalServicesAct

Online marketplaces must make “reasonable efforts” to randomly check relevant databases for illegal products and generally “make reasonable efforts” to verify the identity and thus ensure traceability of traders. #DigitalServicesAct

Platforms with over 45 mio users in Europe have to carry out annual risk assessments for impacts on fundamental rights, human dignity, data protection, diversity of expression and media, non-discrimination, protection of minors and consumer protection. #DigitalServicesAct

Access to platform data for researchers and civil society: This is crucial to hold platforms accountable, to allow independent scrutiny and to understand how these platforms operate (Article 31). #DigitalServicesAct

Regulators have strong enforcement measures at their disposal (Article 41 ff.) They can impose fines of up to 6 % of their global turnover. In the case of persistent infringements, periodic fines of up to 5 % can be imposed.
#DigitalServicesAct

The Commission will have central oversight of the rules for very large platforms to prevent an enforcement “traffic jam” in individual countries. VLOPs should pay supervisory fees – an idea initially put forward by our group.
h/t @kimvsparrentak #DigitalServicesAct

@kimvsparrentak Big disappointment: there will be no separate article protecting against revenge actions of ex-partners who publish nude pictures (partly with the names and addresses of the persons concerned) or against secretly made pictures or videos, #DigitalServicesAct

@kimvsparrentak We're discussing the impact of the DSA right now, with @shoshanazuboff @sven_giegold and @netzpolitik - thank you all for participating!
The video will be available soon. Watch this space!

End of thread. 🧵