European UnionDigital Services Act (DSA), Articles 25 to 27 (Online interface design, advertising on online platforms and recommender system transparency)
Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Arts. 25-27
In force since .
A transparency and process rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Disclosure, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- If you provide an online platform and qualify as a micro or small enterprise as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC, Articles 25 to 27 do not apply to you, and that exclusion continues for 12 months after you lose the status, unless you are a very large online platform. If the Commission designates you a very large online platform, they apply to you whether or not you are a micro or small enterprise.
- Do not design, organise or operate your online interfaces in a way that deceives or manipulates the recipients of your service or that otherwise materially distorts or impairs their ability to make free and informed decisions. The prohibition does not apply to practices covered by Directive 2005/29/EC or Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
- If you present advertisements on your online interfaces, ensure that for each specific advertisement presented to each individual recipient, the recipient can identify in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner and in real time: that the information is an advertisement, including through prominent markings; the natural or legal person on whose behalf it is presented; the person who paid for it, if different; and meaningful information, directly and easily accessible from the advertisement, about the main parameters used to determine the recipient to whom it is presented and, where applicable, how to change them.
- Give recipients a functionality to declare whether the content they provide is or contains commercial communications. When a recipient makes that declaration, ensure that other recipients can identify in a clear and unambiguous manner and in real time, including through prominent markings, that the content is or contains commercial communications as described in the declaration.
- Do not present advertisements to recipients of your service based on profiling as defined in Article 4, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 using special categories of personal data referred to in Article 9(1) of that Regulation.
- If you use recommender systems, set out in your terms and conditions, in plain and intelligible language, the main parameters used in them and any options for recipients to modify or influence those parameters. Explain why certain information is suggested to the recipient, including at least the criteria most significant in determining it and the reasons for their relative importance.
- Where several options are available for a recommender system that determines the relative order of information presented to recipients, make available a functionality that allows the recipient to select and modify their preferred option at any time, directly and easily accessible from the specific section of your online interface where the information is being prioritised.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
Article 52(3) requires Member States to set the maximum fine for a failure to comply with an obligation in the Regulation at 6 % of the provider's annual worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year, and the maximum fine for supplying incorrect, incomplete or misleading information, failing to reply or rectify, or failing to submit to an inspection at 1 % of annual income or worldwide turnover. Article 52(4) sets the maximum periodic penalty payment at 5 % of average daily worldwide turnover or income per day.
- Rule
- Turnover pct only
- As of
- Turnover percentage cap
- 6
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The authorities of the Member State in which the provider's main establishment is located (Article 56(1)) and, for providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines, the European Commission (Article 56(3)).
What this law does
Article 19(1) excludes providers of online platforms that qualify as micro or small enterprises as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC from Section 3 of Chapter III, with the exception of Article 24(3), and keeps the exclusion for 12 months after a provider loses that status, except for very large online platforms.
Article 19(2) applies Section 3 to a provider of an online platform designated as a very large online platform in accordance with Article 33, whether or not it qualifies as a micro or small enterprise. Article 25 prohibits a provider of an online platform from designing, organising or operating its online interfaces in a way that deceives or manipulates the recipients of its service, or that otherwise materially distorts or impairs their ability to make free and informed decisions.
The prohibition does not apply to practices covered by Directive 2005/29/EC or Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
Article 26(1) requires a provider of an online platform that presents advertisements on its online interfaces to ensure that, for each specific advertisement presented to each individual recipient, the recipient can identify in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner and in real time that the information is an advertisement, the person on whose behalf it is presented, the person who paid for it if different, and the main parameters used to determine the recipient.
Article 26(2) requires the provider to give recipients a functionality to declare whether the content they provide is or contains commercial communications, and to ensure that other recipients can identify such content in a clear and unambiguous manner and in real time, including through prominent markings.
Article 26(3) prohibits presenting advertisements to recipients based on profiling as defined in Article 4, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 using the special categories of personal data referred to in Article 9(1) of that Regulation.
Article 27(1) requires a provider of an online platform that uses recommender systems to set out in its terms and conditions, in plain and intelligible language, the main parameters used in its recommender systems and any options for recipients to modify or influence those parameters.
The main parameters must explain why certain information is suggested to the recipient and include at least the criteria most significant in determining the information suggested and the reasons for their relative importance.
Where several options are available for recommender systems that determine the relative order of information presented, the provider must make available a functionality that lets the recipient select and modify their preferred option at any time, directly and easily accessible from the specific section of the interface where information is being prioritised.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.