The EU enacted the Digital Services Act on Friday, a law considered one of the most thorough pieces of legislation to date regarding Big Tech. Passed alongside its sister bill, the antitrust-focused Digital Markets Act, the DSA sets several guidelines for how technology platforms such as Meta, Google, and Amazon must handle speech, transparency, and a user's data. While the laws are designed to help Europe specifically, their effects may be felt in the U.S.
Big Tech companies have adapted to the demands of the DSA, including adding new modes to allow users variety, required transparency efforts, and testing the companies' ability to respond to requests to quell misinformation on the platform. Platforms are now required to remove content related to"disinformation or election manipulation, cyber violence against women, or harms to minors" online, according to the DSA. While the U.S.
There is also the matter of differing speech laws within the EU. France and Germany have more restrictive hate speech laws than some of its neighbors. Balancing the concerns of one nation over the other becomes a complicated affair on its own. Failure to comply with these restrictions could lead to the company paying up to 6% of annual worldwide turnover.
The EU frames the policies as an expansion of its priorities worldwide. The DSA is"bringing our European values into the digital world," President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said. Others viewed this law as an unnecessary expansion of regulators."The only thing that Europe is exporting these days is regulation," Tews said.