European Commission imposes tighter scrutiny on 19 platforms including Twitter and TikTok

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: JOHN THYS / AFP 20:40 p.m., April 25, 2023

Brussels unveiled on Tuesday a list of 19 very large online platforms, including Twitter, TikTok and the main services of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft, which will be subject to enhanced controls from the end of August. These companies, which each have more than 45 million active users in the European Union, will be placed under the supervision of the European Commission and subject to strengthened rules, including the obligation of an independent annual audit to ensure that they effectively fight against disinformation, online hate or counterfeiting.

Substantial fines

"The countdown has started for these 19 very large online platforms and search engines," said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. He reiterated that they must fully comply with their special obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark regulation that entered into force in the EU in mid-November.

They will have until August 25 to comply. Offenders will face fines of up to 6% of their group's global turnover and, as a last resort, in the event of repeated serious infringements, a temporary ban from practising in the EU. The 19 platforms were designated on the basis of their number of users in Europe that they were required to publish by 17 February.

Twitter, owned by US billionaire Elon Musk, and TikTok, owned by Chinese giant Bytedance, have recently fuelled concerns about their ability to comply with EU law. Thierry Breton was pleased that Twitter has agreed to submit to a compliance test that will take place "at the end of June" in San Francisco. He said TikTok had also expressed interest in the support offered by the Commission to all stakeholders.

"Special responsibilities"

The list unveiled Tuesday also includes five services of the giant Google: search engine, mapping (Maps), application store (Play Store), online sales (Shopping) and videos (YouTube). It also includes the Meta Group's Facebook and Instagram social networks, as well as Microsoft's Bing search engine and professional social network LinkedIn. Also affected are Apple, via its AppStore application store, and the distribution giant Amazon.

AliExpress, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, social network Snapchat, photo-sharing service Pinterest, online encyclopedia Wikipedia and European fashion online sales champion Zalando round out the list.

Considered to be of "systemic importance" and "particular responsibilities" because of their size, they will be placed under the direct supervision of the European Commission and will have to carry out their own analysis of the risks associated with their services in terms of the dissemination of illegal content, invasion of privacy or freedom of expression, but also in matters of public health or safety.

Rules effective in February 2024

Companies will also have to put in place the appropriate means, particularly in content moderation, to mitigate these risks. In addition, they will be obliged to open their algorithms to the EU executive's experts and to offer access to their data to accredited researchers.

These rules, imposed only on very large platforms, are in addition to those provided by the DSA for all social networks, marketplaces and search engines regardless of their size. The rules binding on all actors will become effective on 17 February 2024.

They include the obligation to act "promptly" to remove illegal content as soon as the platform becomes aware of it, or the obligation to inform judicial authorities when they suspect a "serious criminal offence".

They also include prohibitions, such as those on exploiting users' "sensitive" data (gender, political leaning, religious affiliation, etc.) for targeted advertising and transparency obligations, such as the publication of the main parameters used by recommendation systems.

Some companies on the Commission's radar

In addition to the list unveiled on Tuesday, Brussels is checking the data of other platforms that have said they do not fall within the scope of the DSA's strengthened rules, such as Telegram, Airbnb, PornHub or Spotify.

Some of them could be designated at a later date, if the Commission considers that they exceed the threshold of 45 million active users in the EU. Thierry Breton mentioned "four or five additional platforms" that could be announced "in the coming weeks".

The DSA complements the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA) that tackles anti-competitive practices by tech giants and came into force on November 1.