The European Union (EU) has listed 19 major online platforms and search engines that will be subject to extra scrutiny under its new content moderation rules.
According to Bloomberg, The European Commission has listed Twitter, App Store, YouTube, Google search, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok and Snapchat as part of the platforms that will be required to meet additional requirements under the bloc’s new Digital Service Act (DSA).
Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton told reporters he was concerned particularly about the content moderation system of Facebook.
He said “Now that Facebook has been designated as a very large online platform, Meta needs to carefully investigate its system and fix it where needed ASAP.”
He also mentioned that the very large online platforms (VLOPs) which are platforms that have over 45 million active users now have the following responsibilities;
- To take down illegal content
- To hire adequate content moderators in every EU language
- To send annual risk assessments to the EU’s executive body with details of how they handle harmful content.
Breton said the EU will carry out a live stress test on Twitter in June, and he has proposed the same test for TikTok.
The commission said the goal is to give online users and children more rights and protection and to compel the companies to “assess and mitigate their systemic risks” and also “provide robust content moderation tools.”
The DSA was introduced last year after the EU noticed that tech giant’s failed to combat illegal content on their platforms.
The DSA rules include restrictions on using sensitive data such as race and religion for ad targeting, a ban on targeting ads to minors and a block on tactics that push people into consenting to online tracking.
The listed companies and platforms have four months to settle into full compliance with the full set of new obligations and rules under the DSA.
Brent confirmed this in a tweet, mentioning the 19 platforms and search engines.
He tweeted, “With great scale comes great responsibility. Extra #DSA obligation as of 25 August for: AliExpress, Amazon Store, AppStore, Bing, Booking, Facebook, Google Maps, GooglePlay, Google Search, Google Shopping, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, Zalando.
Reports says that non-compliance will cost companies as much as 6% annual revenue or even being banned from the platform.
