Another Blow For Big Tech As Political Agreement Is Reached In Record Time On A New Digital Services Framework

No doubt spurred on by events in Ukraine and growing concerns about the societal impact of the spread of misinformation, on 22 April 2022 the European Parliament and EU Member States reached a political agreement on the European Commission's proposals on the Digital Services Act (DSA) in record time.

The explosion of digital services in the past few decades has highlighted the need for a more modern and harmonised EU-wide regulatory framework. The current rules on digital services flow from the e-Commerce Directive (ECD) which is over 20 years old (as a junior lawyer, I was seconded to the DTI in 2002 to assist with the UK implementation of the ECD and I feel equally in need of an update). As a Directive, the ECD was implemented in slightly different ways in Member States which has created a patchwork of rules across the EU. The DSA will be implemented as Regulations to ensure a harmonised approach which will be easier for businesses to navigate through.