Il Digital Services Act (DSA) is a European Union regulation that aims to regulate digital services, such as social media, online marketplaces and search engines, in order to ensure a safer online environment and protect users’ fundamental rights. The legislation applies to online platforms large in size and, among its main objectives, there are the fight against the carrying out of illegal and harmful activities, as well as the fight against disinformation (aka fake news).
The content of the DSA is paired with another set of provisions, those contained in the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which instead are mainly focused on the promotion of free competition: Companies and services recognized as gatekeepers, for example, must open their products to competitors by making them interoperable.
DSA is already a reality for the platforms identified by the European Commission which have at least 45 million users in the Old Continent; from 17 February 2024, however, the range of recipients of the provision will be further extended.
X (formerly Twitter) at the center of an investigation by the European Commission: here are the reasons
The European Commission has officially announced the start of one infringement procedure against the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Based on the obligations set out in the DSA, X would not have taken steps to fight disinformation and the publication of artfully manipulated content.
The Authority indicated that it had started the procedure pursuant to the DSA “based on the preliminary investigation conducted so far, on the content of the risk assessment report submitted by X in September, on the transparency report of other things, concerned the dissemination of illegal content in the context of Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel“.
Entered into force in November 2022, the opening of the file against X is absolutely the first investigation of this type in the history of the DSA.
Companies like hate speech balancing their interventions with the right to freedom of expression however recognized to every single individual.
What does the investigation launched by the European Commission on the basis of the Digital Services Act focus on?
As Commissioner Thierry Breton also explains, the formal infringement procedure will focus on X’s compliance with its obligations to combat the spread of illegal content in the European Union, on the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the platform to combat manipulation of information and on its measures to increase the transparency.
Under the lens of the European Commission there are also the so-called blue ticks of X, already well known in the “Twitter era”. These are “rosettes” that distinguish the account verified, those that should correspond to the people, professionals and businesses declared in the name of the profile itself. Europe also wants to “put its nose” into the process that leads to the assignment of these blue ticks.
In the event that European inspectors were to identify profiles of responsibility on the part of X, the company owned by Elon Musk could be sanctioned with a fine of up to 6% of annual revenues accrued globally.
Musk preferred not to comment. Indeed, he issued a rather sarcastic one: “I’m busy right now, please try again later“.
Recently, the well-known activist Max Schrems“patron” of Noyb, also filed a complaint against “ad hoc”.