New EU Legislation Seeks to Ensure Online Safety

Jul 20, 2022

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The European Parliament has reached agreement on a text of the Digital Services Act (DSA)1. The DSA is designed to regulate the conduct of providers of so-called “intermediary services”, i.e. those which connect consumers and/or users to goods, services or content online. The DSA will, notably, govern the conduct of online search engines and online platforms, such as social media and marketplaces.

As noted below (see “Next Steps” below), the DSA has not yet passed fully through the legislative process of the European Union (EU). However, we expect that it is in near-final form, with only a handful of particular provisions still likely to be subject to further discussion, if any.

We set out below the headline points that businesses should be aware of when the DSA comes into effect.

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