The European Union said that nearly 20 major tech platforms, including Apple, Facebook, and Twitter, have to comply with stricter rules for algorithmic risk, content recommendations, and more.
The companies, designated as “very large" online search engines or
platforms with 45 million+ monthly active users, will have four months
to comply with the entirety of the EU's new Digital Services Act (DSA),
lawmakers said. Failure to do so could result in fines as high as 6% of
their annual turnover or a temporary ban.
- The
EU has singled out 19 online platforms as passing that 45-million user
threshold. Most of the companies are U.S.-based, though Chinese-owned
platforms TikTok and AliExpress are also mentioned.
- Under the
broader rules, platforms will need to inform their online users why they
are receiving certain recommendations and give them the opportunity to
opt-out.
- The terms and conditions in contracts will require summaries in “plain language” and all EU languages.
- The
DSA mandates that platforms remove illegal content more quickly and
share information about their content-recommending algorithms and
efforts to fight harmful content and online misinformation.
- The
rules tackle several topics, including prohibiting online platforms
from targeting children with ads and barring platforms from relying on
algorithms that use data to target users based on gender, race, and
religion.
- The EU says it could add more platforms to the stricter "very large" category over time.
