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(File image) Elon Musk said his company was "working hard" to comply with the new Digital Services Act. Alamy Stock Photo

The European Union's tough new laws on social media content have officially come into force

Platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users will be subjected to fulfil every new obligation.

THE EUROPEAN UNION’S Digital Services Act which will crack down the availability of illegal content and enforce stronger moderation on the largest social media platforms across the continent has become “legally enforceable” today.

The law aims to make social media companies more transparent, with a particular focus on banning or limiting targeting practices and introducing tighter controls on content.

19 online platforms will have to be in agreement with the Digital Services Act (DSA) and all will be subject to an annual audit, where those found in breach of the new rules face fines of up to 6% of their annual global turnover. 

Platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users, which the EU has described as “very large”, will be subjected to every aspect of the DSA, including new standardised codes of conduct and data-sharing and monetisation regulations which the EU plan to fully develop and implement by the beginning on 2025.

Search engines and online stores such as, Alibaba AliExpress, Amazon Store, Apple AppStore, Booking.com, Wikipedia, Zalando, Bing and Google search, are subject to every aspect of the new obligations brought on by the new law.

All major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, are also required to fulfil the new obligations.

Companies must ensure the provision of easy-to-use reporting systems for illegal content, stronger content moderation and opt-out options on certain content for all European users on their apps.

The DSA states that the platforms should “serve to remove or disable access to the specific items of information considered to constitute illegal content, without unduly affecting the freedom of expression and of information of recipients of the service”.

European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton announced that the law has now become “legally enforceable” adding that he and his services will be “very rigorous” to check that the platforms comply with the DSA.

“We will be investigating and sanctioning them, if not the case.”

Breton said on Twitter today: “These systemic platforms play a very, very important role in our daily life and it is really the time now for Europe, for us, to set our own rules.”

Industry reaction

Twitter was among five social media platforms that undertook a “stress-test” this summer to gauge whether they were compliant. Breton warned Musk he needed more resources to moderate dangerous content, but after the billionaire’s takeover, he unleashed a wave of firings.

Twitter owner Elon Musk said his company was “working hard” to comply with the DSA, in a direct reply to Breton post.

Musk recently hinted that he intends on removing the ability to block other users on his platform. While it is unclear from the legislation if this move will be a breach, the law does request that users be notified for the reasons why a platform has decided to restrict their access or “shadow ban” the user.

The law also allows companies to ban or terminate accounts that are run by bots or are spam accounts – an issue which caused a major stir with Twitter and Musk after he pulled out of the initial purchase of the platform in May 2022 after claiming the website was overrun with fake accounts.

Microsoft vowed this afternoon that the company will provide more information on targeted adverts and protect users against any new risks from artificial intelligence in response to the law coming into force.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn said in a blog post they had implemented this change for the desktop and mobile version of the network.

AI has also dominated headlines with its dizzying advances after chatbot ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI which Microsoft has invested in, burst onto the scene last year.

The EU is racing to approve the world’s first law regulating AI by the end of the year.

Courtney Gregoire, Microsoft’s chief digital safety officer, vowed Microsoft would “implement additional safeguards to protect against new risks related to AI as they arise and will continue to be transparent about our approach” in a blog post.

Gregoire said other measures taken by Microsoft to comply with the DSA include creating an “Ad Library”, giving European users access to information about the adverts they see on the platform. LinkedIn has taken a similar step.

Gregoire added that Microsoft would also “better explain to users how Bing search works, including its ranking principles, moderation policies, and user controls”.

Amazon and German-owned online retailer Zalando have already contested the Union’s description as “very large”.

Snapchat, owned by Snap, unveiled changes as well this week to its app that include giving users control over the content they see and restricting targeted advertising to children aged 13 to 17 in the EU but also in Britain.

Breton said that he hopes the DSA will make the online environment “safer for everyone in Europe”.

Google’s services apps – Maps, Play, and Shopping – must also meet the new requirements.

Sector-wide regulation

The DSA will enforce four sectors of the tech industry: intermediary services offering network infrastructure, hosting services such as cloud and webhosting service, online marketplaces, app stores, collaborative economy platforms and social media platforms. and very large online platforms.

While intermediary services must meet basic consumer and transparency reporting clauses, online social media and market platforms must fulfil the majority of the content moderation and transparency of online advertising obligations.

Members states must now appoint Digital Services Coordinators by 17 February 2024 so that the correct enforcement procedures can begin.

Users of the platforms will have a right to lodge a complaint against the websites, through their respective country’s coordinator, and both parties will have a right to be heard and receive “appropriate information about the status of the complaint”.

If the platform is found to be in breach of the regulation, per the complaint, recipients of the service shall have the right to seek compensation, paid to them by the platform, “in respect of any damage or loss suffered due to an infringement by those providers”.

Many inside and outside of the EU hope the DSA will be a beacon for other countries to take similar action and bring more regulatory oversight of big tech worldwide.

Additional reporting from © AFP 2023

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44 Comments
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    Mute
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:31 PM

    No good will come from this. Now the EU can control not only what you say, but what you read. They love free speech and democracy though! Down with Big Brother.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:36 PM

    @: What’s the problem with blocking bots and misinformation?

    US democracy came close to being overthrown in 2020/21, and social media disinformation played a big part in that. Aren’t freedom and democracy worth protecting?

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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:40 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Blocking bots and misinfo? Oh dear, you might be out of a job. No more €1.25 per post for you :-(

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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:40 PM

    @: The irony of your post is,, it was posted by an anonymous bot

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    Mute Ignatius J Reilly
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:42 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: allowing others to decide on your behalf what constitutes disinformation does not protect freedom, it surrenders freedom. And US democracy did not come close to being overthrown in 2020/21, that is hyperbolic nonsense, or in your preferred parlance – disinformation. Who knows, maybe some day our great and glorious betters will see fit to censor you from spouting such nonsense, all in the name of protecting your freedom of course.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:48 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Trump attempted a coup, and might have succeeded if the situation had been slightly different. That would have been the end of US democracy. These are facts. Perhaps he will succeed next time, if there is a next time.

    The criteria for what is and is not mis/disinformation are pretty straightforward and can be determined quite easily by a democratic state/society: truth and facts versus Trumpian/Putinian anti-facts, false narratives and conspiracy theories.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:48 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Brendan actually works for the type of people who are bringing in this rule, so he’ll be fine.

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    Mute Ignatius J Reilly
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:56 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: no, Trump did not attempt a coup. A lie no matter how oft repeated is still a lie. So essentially you just want other people restricted from saying things, but anything you make up can just be followed by “these are facts”, and since paradigms never change it will never be you who falls foul of such authoritarian laws.

    Only weak people crave authority in the way you do, be they emotionally weak, intellectually weak, or both. We saw with the devastating damage caused by the reactions to covid what pandering to the weak and cowardly achieves.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:59 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Trump attempted to overturn the result of a legally constituted election and incited his followers to match on the Capitol: what was that if not a coup?

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    Mute Ignatius J Reilly
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:03 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: anyone who attempts a coup against the federal government in the US is charged with sedition. Trump has not been, and will not be, charged with sedition. So what we actually have is some events that occurred, you being hyperbolic about those events, and interpreting those events through your hyperbolic lens to reach obviously false conclusions: This is a dictionary definition of disinformation. And you will engage in it while simultaneously championing restrictions on disinformation, completely lacking the wit to even understand the contradiction or potential consequences. On the bright side, there’s a good chance it’s not the ‘emotionally weak’ category you fall in though.

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    Mute Diarmuid Hunt
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:05 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Do you know the difference between disinformation and misinformation?

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:11 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: Your argument is that if someone hasn’t been charged with a crime, the crime never happened. That’s not very convincing.

    ‘So what we actually have is some events that occurred’ – yes, an attempt to overturn a lawful election, which would bring an end to democracy and the rule of law.

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    Mute Ignatius J Reilly
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:16 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: no, my argument is that you are being hyperbolic, and I am using the findings of the US federal justice system who investigated the events in question to support my argument. Your argument appears to be that whatever your interpretation of events is is automatically correct, because you like authoritarianism, and you have precisely nothing to support your argument.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:24 PM

    @Ignatius J Reilly: My statement that Trump illegally attempted to overturn the election is overwhelmingly supported by facts, as will become even more apparent next year.

    My distaste for authoritarianism is the very reason why I feel that action should be taken against the deployment of its tools, on social media and elsewhere,.

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    Mute Ignatius J Reilly
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:29 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: it’s not supported by any facts because it’s something you made up. That’s why you cannot support your silly hyperbolic argument with anything other than reiterations of how you’re correct, because reasons.

    “My distaste for authoritarianism is exactly why I support these authoritarian measures.” Very convincing, unfortunately for you words actually mean things, and the words you use demonstrate quite clearly what an authoritarian fruitcake you are.

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    Mute brendan C5
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:47 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: so the side you’re on is always right and the other side is always wrong, but you only hear what’s going on from the news outlets on the side you’re on. You’re brainwashed I’m afraid. I listen to both sides on a similar story and make an informed opinion, just like the gas pipelines story, Russia did it, then Ukraine did it with a small sailing boat. When all along it was the USA because they had everything to gain, even Joe biden and Victoria nuland said it months before it happened.

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    Mute The Irish love this shy....
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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:17 PM

    @: Might be a start to weeding out you Bots.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:59 PM

    Not really. If people stop using multinational operated services, they can’t do anything. For example, use bitchute, rumble, yandex. They don’t care about censorship or the EU.

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    Mute Alan Scott
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    Aug 25th 2023, 7:29 PM

    @: the usual misinformation. Did you read the actual bill?

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    Aug 25th 2023, 7:52 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: the issue here Brendan is who is deciding what misinformation is. The last few years have only highlighted that blind faith causes harm and most don’t trust the people in charge. I certainly don’t trust people I never met.

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    Mute James Brohan
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:48 PM

    What an evil organization the EU is. It has completely subsumed its members individual sovereignty, whilst at the same time being beholden in a vassal manner to the US. Add this unnecessary monitoring of its citizens, it only shows what a fragile state the EU is in. If it was strong and made up of open and democratic values, there’d be no need for covert vigilance like this. It’s sad that what started out as a commercial community designed to enhance peace has evolved into a secretive war driven operation. I’d give the EU another 5 – 7 years, 10 years tops, before this failed organization collapses in on itself. The big cracks may begin elsewhere but the final straw will be when the Germans say enough is enough, it’s time to wind this thing down and return to the Deutsche Market etc.

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:03 PM

    @James Brohan: Best of luck with that,the EU is the best thing to happen to this country and plenty more.

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:16 PM

    @James Brohan: with support hitting 93%, I’d say good luck with that.

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    Mute Gavin Kelly
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    Aug 26th 2023, 6:44 AM

    @James Brohan: pony talk everybody loves the eu even the brits want back in

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    Mute Steve
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:36 PM

    When people say ‘what’s the problem with blocking misinformation’, maybe stop and think for just a second that anything can be called misinformation if someone wants to call it that, no matter whether it is true or false or a grey area (as is often the case). This is actually very dangerous and only because it is convenient now for some folk to have the opinion of others ‘banned’. Just wait until that convenience is gone, the tide changes and how ‘good’ free speech will be banned. A very slippery slope!

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:41 PM

    @Steve: But it has to be attempted (and, of course, it has to be done right). Otherwise, in a free-for-all with the technology we have now, the very concept of truth and facts will become a thing of the past (which is exactly what Trump and others like him are working towards).

    48
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    Mute Ken O'Neill
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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:10 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien:
    .
    Did he manage to get Trump in there to try and justify his warped logic? – yes he did, these Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers really need therapy and/or counselling to try and cure them of this peculiar obsessive mental illness that has afflicted them.

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    Aug 25th 2023, 3:25 PM

    As the old saying goes, those who censor are never the good guys. They do the same in China.

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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 25th 2023, 3:51 PM

    @: say’s the bot from ?

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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:18 PM

    @Trent: I’m afraid not, I’m just not communist. All non communists are not bots. I know you not used to chatting with a non communist so I will over look your comment.

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    Mute Ken O'Neill
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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:28 PM

    Welcome to commEUinism

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    Mute Bass Boss
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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:26 PM

    All this is to be able to control the narrative… simple

    69
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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:26 PM

    Seen as though most of them have there European headquarters here i guess we’ll be in charge of it ,,sure what could go wrong

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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:36 PM

    Good news.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Aug 25th 2023, 1:51 PM

    ‘It has completely subsumed its members individual sovereignty’: nope (ain’t you heard of subsidiarity?).

    ‘whilst at the same time being beholden in a vassal manner to the US’ – that’s another nope.

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:04 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Fully agree with you.

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    Mute The Irish love this shy....
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    Aug 25th 2023, 4:16 PM

    Welcome news. Well done EU.

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Aug 25th 2023, 3:02 PM

    I can’t stand the likes of Elon Musk. A thin-skinned vein-glorious fool; I think he’s probably one of the most dangerous men on Earth at present. However; I can’t see how social media can be anything other than all-or-nothing. Censorship just has too much potential for corruption. I’d be all for getting rid of it completely; but that’s obviously not going to happen. We just have to let it be what it is. People have always been susceptible to disinformation. The amount it going around from person to person via the telephone lines in the 80s would put Twitter to shame. But people are slowly learning to be more critical in their thinking. It will take time and there will always be suckers out there.

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    Mute Bomber
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    Aug 25th 2023, 2:48 PM

    Good

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    Mute john christopher
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    Aug 25th 2023, 5:25 PM

    There is always the dark net.

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    Mute peter murray
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    Aug 26th 2023, 10:30 AM

    This Misinformation Commission will be a hoot when it starts operations. I’m preparing a list of the factual untruths about asylum seekers put about in media statements by the Irish Refugee Council and other far-left NGOs, and published as fact by The Journal. My list will keep this quango busy for months.
    I suggest everyone should prepare their own list of “Untruths published as fact” by the Journal and the other lefty media for submission to the Commission when it starts operations.

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    Mute Gerard
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    Aug 27th 2023, 10:22 AM

    It’s probably a nessary step, I like how companies will now have to explain to the user why they have been shadow banned. Not so keen on the EU what information needs to be removed or restricted. That seems like it could be quite oppressive.

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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Aug 26th 2023, 12:06 AM

    I see the right wing manboys are getting well triggered by the fact that the lying treacherous sex offender orange thing looks like justice is finally catching up to him

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    Mute peter murray
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    Aug 26th 2023, 10:36 AM

    @Robert Halvey: I look forward to him sharing a cell with Biden’s little darling. And perhaps they will need to put a third bunk in the cell when they complete the inquiry into the business links between Biden senior and junior called for by the Washington Post on Wednesday.

    10
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