The European Union has ordered Google, Meta and other online services to explain their algorithms

The European Union has agreed on an ambitious piece of legislation to control the online world. Under the new Digital Services Act, or DSA, companies like Google, Meta, etc.will have to explain their algorithms, The Verge reports.

The new legislation is designed to force tech companies to take greater responsibility for the content that appears on their platforms.

Details of the solution

In particular, the new commitments include faster removal of illegal content and products, explaining to users and researchers how their algorithms work, and taking stricter measures to spread misinformation. Moreover, companies face a fine of up to 6% of their annual turnover for non-compliance with the requirements.

"The DSA will update the Basic Rules for all online services in the EU. This gives practical effect to the principle that what is illegal offline should be illegal online. The larger the size, the greater the responsibility of online platforms," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In turn, Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for competition, who led most of the bloc's technical regulation, noted that this law "will ensure that platforms are responsible for the risks that their services may pose to society and citizens."

The DSA is expected to have a more immediate impact on internet users. Although the legislation applies only to EU citizens, the effect of these laws will certainly be felt in other parts of the world. The publication claims that global technology companies may decide that it is more cost-effective to implement a single strategy for content control and use relatively strict EU regulations as a reference.

New commitments for internet services

At the moment, the final text of the DSA has not yet been made public, but the European Parliament and the European Commission have detailed a number of obligations that it will contain. In particular, we are talking about the following:

Targeted advertising based on a person's religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity is prohibited. Minors may also not be the target of targeted advertising;"dark patterns" — confusing or deceptive user interfaces designed to encourage users to make certain choices — will be banned. The EU says that, generally, unsubscribing should be as easy as subscribing;major online platforms like Facebook will have to make their recommendation algorithms (such as those used to sort content in a news feed or offer TV shows on Netflix) transparent to users. Users should also be offered a recommendation system that is"not based on profiling". In the case of Instagram, for example, this will mean a chronological feed (as it was recently introduced);hosting services and online platforms will have to clearly explain why they removed illegal content, as well as give users the opportunity to challenge such removal. However, the DSA itself does not determine which content is illegal, and leaves it to individual countries;the largest online platforms will have to provide researchers with key data to "give more insight into how online risks develop";online markets will have to store basic information about traders on their platform to track individuals selling illegal goods or services;major platforms will also have to implement new strategies to combat disinformation during crises (a provision inspired by the recent invasion of Ukraine). When will the new rules start working?

The publication noted that the DSA distinguishes between technology companies of different sizes, placing large obligations on larger companies. The largest companies — those with at least 45 million users in the EU, such as Meta and Google-will receive the most attention from regulators.

These tech companies are known to have lobbied hard to mitigate DSA requirements, especially those related to targeted advertising and data transfer to third-party researchers.

Although the general terms and conditions of the DSA are currently agreed upon by EU member states, the legal aspect still needs to be finalized and the law officially passed. However, this last step is currently considered a formality.

It is assumed that the new rules will apply to all companies 15 months after the adoption of the law or from January 1, 2024, whichever comes later.

Recall that in January 2022, the European Parliament adopted an initial bill restricting targeted advertising. This will reduce the use of personal information by tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook.