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.
