On Friday, August 25th, the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) came into effect. This EU regulation is designed to enhance consumer's protections and their fundamental rights, establish powerful transparency and a clear accountability framework for online platforms, and promote innovation, growth, and competitiveness in the market. The DSA's scope extends to granting users, including minors, more rights and control over their accounts, while ensuring a high level of privacy and security. For more background on the process, see this story.

According to the European Commission, the DSA applies to 19 platforms and search engines with at least 45 million users. Companies like TikTok, Meta, Snap, Google, and Twitter are required to comply with several measures. These include performing risk assessments, conducting external and independent auditing, sharing data with authorities and researchers, adopting a code of conduct, banning targeting advertising based on a person’s sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or political beliefs, adding restrictions on targeting ads to children, and enhancing transparency on how their algorithms work, among other measures to foster safer online environments.

In this context, Thierry Breton, the EU industry chief, has urged tech giants to comply with the DSA to restore safety and trust on their platforms. He also emphasized that he would not hesitate to impose fines, which could reach up to 6% of a company's global turnover, for violations of the DSA.

Furthermore, reports indicate that certain companies are already taking steps to comply with the DSA. This includes publishing reports about how their algorithms work, changing their advertising policies, and providing users with more control over the content they see, among other measures.