The Digital Services Act has been approved by the full European Parliament. This has already resulted in two votes in favor of the provisional legislative text. A future in which Internet platforms must take stricter action against unsafe content is thus one step closer.
After a first approval by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee of the European Parliament, now also a majority in the full European Parliament votes in favor of the provisional legal text. From the voting results, it is safe to say that this was an overwhelming majority: 530 votes in favor, 78 against and 80 abstentions.
The Digital Services Act is not yet final; the legal text must now be agreed upon by the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the European Commission among themselves. After that, the Digital Services Act will be final and in force.
Creating secure online space
The current content of the law has been preceded by a long process. The law requires all Internet services to counter illegal content on their platforms. To make that possible, mechanisms must be put in place to counter such content. Companies that fail to comply hang a huge fine over the head, with up to 6% of global turnover being demanded.
For a long time, the content of the Digital Services Act was fodder for debate. After all, the bill dated back to 2020 and all the debates ensured that tech giants retained free rein for a long time. At the end of last year, the European Parliament also invited Frances Haugen, Facebook whistleblower, to give citizens the best possible protection from personalized ads with the law.
Curb power of large Internet companies
Along with the Digital Services Act, the European Commission also proposed the Digital Markets Act in 2020. Also a law that was already hotly debated. In November 2021, the European Parliament finally reached an agreement on this law. Now that the second law is also gradually being finalized, Europe will soon be able to regulate the dominance of large Internet companies.
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