Registration of online platforms will take months, according to the European Commission.
Only one online platform has sent notifications about content removals to a transparency database created under the Digital Services Act (DSA), as statedhe EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Bretonon June 24 in response to parliamentary questions.
Under the DSA, which came into effect for all platforms on February 17 of this year, online platforms will have to present clear and specific data -explanations of reasons – about your decisions content moderation. All platform providers are required to submit this data to the Commission’s DSA transparency database for collection, which is publicly available and accessible to researchers and others.
This standard has already been applied to the largest companies, such as Facebook, TikTok y Amazon – designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOP) – since last August. The VLOPs have already submitted their withdrawal decisions.
However, for all non-VLOPs (smaller platforms that have less than 45 million monthly active users in the EU), the 27 national regulators, or Digital Services Coordinatorsare the main point of contact to enroll in the DSA Transparency Database.
“Currently, a non-VLOP platform is actively submitting information to the DSA Transparency Databasewhile 30 non-VLOP platforms have been onboarded by their DSCs and are completing testing of their delivery systems in an isolated environment of the DSA Transparency Database,” Breton said in response to a parliamentary question. Once Once the tests are completed, they will also be able to present their statements of reasons.
The database samplethat the non-VLOP company filing those statements is Joom, a Latvian group of e-commerce and fintech companies that moved its headquarters to Lisbon in 2022.
Infringement proceedings against six countries
The Commission said it is in contact with Member States to establish national authorities as soon as possible, but expect the entire process to take months.
In April, the community Executive opened infringement proceedings against three countries -Estonia, Poland and Slovakia- for delaying the appointment of their CSDs and against three others -Cyprus, Czechia and Portugal- for not providing their CSDs with the necessary powers and competencies to carry out their tasks. The official deadline was February 17.
National regulators are the main point of contact for the platforms to help the Commission collect evidence on the application of the DSA.
In an interview granted to ‘Euronews’ in March, John Evans, head of the Irish regulator Coimisiún na Meán, declared that only his organization expects to supervise about 400 more servicesas well as some of the largest VLOPs based in Ireland.
“I think it’s proportionately higher than in other countries,” Evans said. Large registered Irish technology companies include Google, TikTok y X.
