BRUSSELS: A new EU law imposing stricter online regulation comes into effect Wednesday and the biggest platforms like Facebook and Google will have until February 17 to reveal their user numbers.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) rules will be fully applied 12 months later from February 17, 2024, but officials will need time next year to decide which tech giants are big enough to need close observation.
The DSA was designed to combat online hate speech, disinformation and piracy, in Europe at a time when much of the Internet content seen by EU citizens is controlled by US-based companies.
Under the new law, all social media platforms, online market places and search engines will be obliged to react more quickly to remove content deemed in breach of EU regulations.
This will include measures to limit the use of sensitive private data in targeting ads at European users and will insist on more transparency for the algorithms that suggest content.
But the new rules will come into effect earlier for what Brussels calls Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) — those with more than 45 million active users in the EU.
At current user numbers, this definition would hit around 20 firms, including Meta and its social networks Facebook and Instagram; Google and its video platform YouTube; and iPhone-maker Apple’s platforms.
The micro-blogging platform Twitter, recently bought by entrepreneur Elon Musk, will almost certainly also be included, along with China’s video-sharing platform TikTok, German retailer Zalando and Dutch hotel site Booking.
Any site that could be big enough to make the cut must publish its European user numbers by February 17, 2023 and the DSA regulations will come into force once the European Commission has confirmed their size.
This implies that, for the giants, the DSA’s rules — stricter for bigger platforms — could come in in late 2023 rather than in February 2024, when they will apply to all.
The VLOPs could be fined sums equal to up to six percent of their global revenue or even be banned from the huge EU market in the case of serious, sustained breaches of the rules.
The DSA complements another new EU law, the Digital Markets Act or DMA, which prohibits anti-competitive behavior by the so-called “gatekeepers” of the Internet and went into force in November.
Web giants to submit user data as EU law comes into effect
https://arab.news/2trpt
Web giants to submit user data as EU law comes into effect
- Digital Services Act focuses on content regulation, transparency
- Around 20 companies are likely to be affected including Apple, Meta, Google, Zalando
UAE outlines approach to AI governance amid regulation debate at World Economic Forum
- Minister of State Maryam Al-Hammadi highlights importance of a robust regulatory framework to complement implementation of AI technology
- Other experts in panel discussion say regulators should address problems as they arise, rather than trying to solve problems that do not yet exist
DUBAI: The UAE has made changes to 90 percent of its laws in the past four years, Maryam Al-Hammadi, minister of state and the secretary-general of the Emirati Cabinet, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Speaking during a panel discussion titled “Regulating at the Speed of Code,” she highlighted the importance of having a robust regulatory framework in place to complement the implementation of artificial intelligence technology in the public and private sectors.
The process of this updating and repealing of laws has driven the UAE’s efforts to develop an AI model that can assist in the drafting of legislation, along with collecting feedback from stakeholders on proposed laws and suggesting improvements, she said.
Although AI might be more agile at shaping regulation, “there are some principles that we put in the model that we are developing that we cannot compromise,” Al-Hammadi added. These include rules for human accountability, transparency, privacy and data protection, along with constitutional safeguards and a thorough understanding of the law.
At this stage, “we believe AI can advise but still (the) human is in command,” she said.
Authorities in the UAE are aiming to develop, within a two-year timeline, a shareable model to help other nations learn and benefit from its experiences, Al-Hammadi added.
Argentina’s minister of deregulation and state transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, warned against overregulation at the cost of innovation.
Politicians often react to a “salient event” by overreacting, he said, describing most regulators as “very imaginative of all the terrible things that will happen to people if they’re free.”
He said that “we have to take more risk,” and regulators should wait to address problems as they arise rather than trying to create solutions for problems that do not yet exist.
This sentiment was echoed by Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, who said “imaginative policymakers” often focus more on risks and potential harms than on the economic and growth benefits of innovation.
He pointed to Europe as an example of this, arguing that an excessive focus on “all the possible harms” of new technologies has, over time, reduced competitiveness and risks leaving the region behind in what he described as a “new technological revolution.”
