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EU Parliament votes in favor of Digital Services Act with further rules on online platforms – IT Pro – News

The European Parliament voted in plenary in favor of the current text of the Digital Services Act. This is a regulation that prescribes stricter rules for online platforms, for example on how to deal with illegal content and notifications about it.

earlier voted the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection already before the Digital Services Act and on Thursday the full EP also adopted the regulation approved. There were 530 votes in favour, 78 against and 80 abstentions. With this, there is a mandate for starting the trilogue. These are negotiations and informal consultations behind closed doors in which the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the Commission must agree on the final text. Only when that process is complete will the regulation enter into force.

The Digital Services Act mainly deals with digital content on platforms, how to deal with illegal content and what responsibilities rest on platforms of different sizes. The bigger the platform, the more responsibilities.

According to the EP, this EU legislation leads to a ‘safer online space for users’. For example, there will be a mechanism through which illegal content can be reported, to which platforms have a duty to respond. The current text states that content that has been designated as illegal must remain online during the assessment whether it is actually illegal content. Furthermore, online marketplaces need to take a closer look at who is trading on their platform to ensure that consumers can buy safe products online.

The European Parliament previously voted in favor of sister legislation to the DSA, namely the Digital Markets Act. The DMA sets further rules for large players with an economically and technically dominant position, specifically companies with a so-called gatekeeper function. An example of this is Apple with its App Store. All kinds of obligations and prohibitions have been drawn up for this type of gatekeeper, such as interoperability, so that third parties can operate on the services of the gatekeeper. Tweakers previously wrote a letter about the background of the DSA and DMA background.

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