EU Moves to Regulate ‘Wild West’ Digital Market

6

With the threat of massive financial penalties, the EU is moving to better protect consumers and social media users in the digital age.

An update that ends up slowing down your laptop? Five different chargers for five different devices? Or worse – stolen personal information; lies about you on social media.

With two ground-breaking pieces of legislation – the Digital Services Act, DSA, and the accompanying Digital Markets Act, DMA – the European Union has taken one of the biggest steps yet to bring order to a digital market dominated in ‘Wild West’ fashion by a few all-powerful tech giants.

The DSA, which will be directly applicable across the bloc as of February 17 next year, requires companies to crack down on harmful and illegal content online and to assess the risks their platforms pose to society. It carries potential punishments of up to six per cent of annual global turnover.

Source : Balkaninsight