With a view to large tech companies such as Amazon, Apple and Spotify, the EU Commission has made it clear that it wants to uncompromisingly enforce the Digital Services Act (DSA), which is traded as a “platform basic law”. “I regret to say that there are some online platforms that have not lived up to their commitments,” Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said at a conference on Friday, according to the online magazine Politico. Specifically, he referred to operators who “either did not specify any user numbers” or simply claimed that they did not reach the relevant thresholds.
Deadline for reporting user numbers
“Let me get that straight,” Breton pointed out according to the report. “When I say that online platforms must publish ‘user numbers’, I mean numbers and not any general statements.” The Commission will “not tolerate delaying tactics when it comes to enforcing the DSA”. You will “take action and take action against the companies that do not comply”. The operators had until February 17 to indicate their user numbers. On this basis, the Commission will name the providers that are considered to be very large platforms. These must observe particularly strict requirements and share in the burden of their own supervision financially.
More than 45 million users at Amazon, Apple and Co.
Amazon, Apple, AliExpress and Pinterest said last month that they had more than 45 million European users. However, they did not give exact numbers. Spotify, Booking.com, eBay, Telegram and, surprisingly, large erotic portals such as YouPorn, Pornhub and OnlyFans are among the platforms that claim to be below the benchmark. As a rule, they also did not show concrete user statistics. “The world is watching us,” Breton pointed out. “We have to prove that our European rules work not only in theory but also in practice, and deliver tangible results to our citizens.”
The DSA enshrines EU-wide due diligence requirements for all digital services that provide consumers with goods, services or content. These include, above all, regulations for faster deletion of illegal content. Very large online platforms, which reach more than 10 percent of the EU population or more than 45 million citizens in the member states, must carry out risk assessments and minimize identified dangers, for example to democracy, public security, fundamental rights and the protection of minors. Around 20 companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Google already belong to this category. The Commission intends to publish the complete list in the coming weeks.
(mack)
