With an effective date of February 17, 2024, the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) will start applying to most online platform providers in less than a year. The DSA, which introduces due diligence and transparency obligations regarding algorithmic decision-making by online platforms, such as social media, video sharing or e-commerce, entered into force on November 16, 2022. For providers of Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs)—providers reaching 45 million EU users monthly—the DSA may apply four months following a notification to the provider concerned, which will be a date earlier than February 17, 2024.
In this Legal Update, we provide further detail on these obligations and note the steps businesses can take to comply with the DSA.