European Union goes on the attack with law to regulate internet – 08/23/2023 – Tech

The European Union goes on the offensive this Friday (23) against the abuses of internet giants with its ambitious LSD (Digital Services Law) which will oblige major platforms such as Google, Facebook, X (ex-Twitter) or TikTok, to improve its tools for the fight against illicit content, under penalty of strong sanctions.

The principle of the new regulation sounds like a slogan: what is illegal offline must also be illegal online. For experts, this is not so simple.

For them, a balance must be found between freedom of expression and the fight against abuses that threaten fundamental rights or democracy (interference in elections, disinformation, protection of minors, etc…).

How to get it? A series of obligations will be imposed, as of Friday, on the 19 main social networks, commerce sites and search engines.

The platforms are not legally responsible for the content they host, nor are they obliged to change them in advance. But the EU hopes to force them to install an effective control system.

They should, for example, provide internet users with a tool to easily flag “illegal” content (as defined by national law, or other European texts) and then quickly remove it.

Merchant sites will have to track sellers to reduce fraud.

Their algorithms will be under surveillance and will have to explain how their recommendation systems work and propose alternatives without personalization.

With regard to advertising, the law prohibits targeting minors and ads based on sensitive data (religion, sexual orientation, etc.).

Compliance with the rules will be monitored by independent audits, under the supervision of the European Union. Any violation can lead to fines of up to 6% of worldwide turnover. And, as a final threat, repeat offenders can be banned from operating.

Do not indulge in excesses

“The alert mechanics and the trusted alerts feature change the situation, as do EU-controlled audits,” says Eric Le Quellenec, attorney for Simmons and Simmons.

This control is overseen by a collegiate body of the 27 members of the EU “to prevent countries from applying a very broad definition of illegal content, such as Poland and Hungary”, he adds.

“It will partially roll back online anonymity: you’ll be tracking down the sellers and those mass-posters of illegal content.”

“Will LSD be effective? It is an innovative system, as it establishes a permanent dialogue between actors, regulators and users. And it will have effects beyond the EU”, says Marc Mossé, a lawyer at the August Debouzy firm.

The European Commission will, however, have to provide adequate means, given the magnitude of the legal services of the digital giants GAFAM, says economist Joëlle Toledano.

Safeguard fundamental freedoms

But it will also require guaranteeing fundamental freedoms.

The specialists highlighted, for example, the declarations of the European Commissioner Thierry Breton who, in early July, after the wave of riots in France, stated that this law would facilitate the suspension of a social network, if it did not “immediately” suppress the “calls to the rebellion”.

Three weeks later, after an open letter from 65 organizations defending freedom of expression, Breton corrected his statement and stated that only a judge could take such a measure.

“It is necessary to correct the excesses, but without falling into contrary excesses”, said Marc Mossé.

In recent weeks, most major platforms have said they will make efforts to comply with the rules.

Meta (Facebook) said it has hired 1,000 people for this and considers that LSD is “something important for all tech companies operating in the EU and will have a significant impact on the experience of Europeans”.

TikTok published the measures taken, Apple announced that it is in the process of enforcing them, and Elon Musk promised that X will respect LSD.

Amazon has filed an appeal against its presence on the list (as has merchant site Zalando), but has said it will invest in flagging illegal content and will abide by the rules if its appeal is not accepted.

“LSD means the end of the era where the platforms themselves decided what was best for us and were so big that they didn’t care about its effects on society,” concluded an EU official.