The EU Commission has presented a list of 19 Internet platforms that will be subject to stricter controls in the future.
Twitter, Tiktok and the most important offers of the US companies Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are affected.
As the Brussels authority announced on Tuesday, they must, among other things be audited annuallyto ensure they are taking effective action against the spread of misinformation and hate speech.
Stricter requirements for moderation will apply in the future
The relevant criterion for inclusion in the list is that an online service more than 45 million active users has in the EU. Therefore, the companies had to report their user numbers to Brussels by February 17th.
Because of their size, they are now, according to the Commission, within the meaning of the Digital Services Act (DSA) classified as “systemically important”. and under their direct supervision.
Stricter requirements then apply to them, for example Content Moderation. In addition, they are obliged to do so on request Insight into their algorithms and granting accredited researchers access to their data.
The platforms have until August 25 to adjust to the rules. Otherwise threaten Fines of up to six percent of global sales and as a last resort for repeated serious violations Ban in the EU.
Tightened control: Which online services are affected?
Twitter and Tiktok in particular were recently targeted by politicians. Twitter has been considered unreliable since it was taken over by Tesla multi-billionaire Elon Musk because of his erratic management.
At tiktok there is a fear that the Chinese state could have access to personal user data via Tiktok’s Chinese parent company Bytedance.
There are also five Google services on the list: Maps, Play Store, Youtube, Shopping as well as the Google search engine.
From the meta group are the networks Facebook and Instagram affected, the network linkedin and the search engine Bing from microsoft, Apple’s App Store and the shipping platform of Amazon.
Chinese mail order companies are also listed Aliexpressthe network Snapchatthe photo service Pinterestthe encyclopedia Wikipedia and as the only EU company, the German mail order company Zalando. (AFP)
