European UnionDigital Services Act (DSA), Articles 33, 38 and 39 (Very large online platforms and search engines)
Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Arts. 33, 38, 39
In force since .
A transparency and process rule binding private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- If the Commission designates your online platform or online search engine as a very large online platform or very large online search engine under Article 33(4), apply the obligations of the Section from four months after it notifies you of the decision. They cease to apply from four months after it notifies you that it has terminated the designation.
- If you use recommender systems, provide at least one option for each of them that is not based on profiling as defined in Article 4, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, in addition to the requirements of Article 27.
- If you present advertisements on your online interfaces, compile and make publicly available in a specific section of your online interface a repository of advertisement information, through a searchable and reliable tool that allows multicriteria queries and through application programming interfaces. Keep each advertisement in it for the entire period during which you present the advertisement and until one year after you presented it for the last time.
- Keep the repository free of any personal data of the recipients of the service to whom the advertisement was or could have been presented, and make reasonable efforts to ensure that the information is accurate and complete.
- Include in the repository at least: the content of the advertisement, including the name of the product, service or brand and its subject matter; the person on whose behalf it is presented; the person who paid for it, if different; the period during which it was presented; whether it was intended for particular groups of recipients and, if so, the main parameters used to target or exclude them; the commercial communications identified under Article 26(2); and the total number of recipients reached and, where applicable, aggregate numbers by Member State for the targeted groups.
- Where you have removed or disabled access to a specific advertisement as allegedly illegal or incompatible with your terms and conditions, leave out of the repository the content of the advertisement, the person on whose behalf it is presented and the person who paid for it, and include instead the information in Article 17(3), points (a) to (e), or Article 9(2), point (a)(i), as applicable.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
Article 74(1) lets the Commission fine the provider of a very large online platform or very large online search engine, where it finds that the provider intentionally or negligently infringes the relevant provisions of the Regulation, up to 6 % of its total worldwide annual turnover in the preceding financial year.
- Rule
- Turnover pct only
- As of
- Turnover percentage cap
- 6
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The European Commission, which has exclusive powers to supervise and enforce Section 5 of Chapter III (Article 56(2)).
What it reaches
Obligation class
Disclosure
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- a number of average monthly active recipients of the service in the Union equal to or higher than 45 million
- designated as very large online platforms or very large online search engines pursuant to paragraph 4
What this law does
Article 33 has the Commission adopt a decision designating an online platform or online search engine as a very large online platform or very large online search engine, and whether a provider is covered turns on the scale and designation test in Article 33(1). The obligations of the Section apply, or cease to apply, to the provider concerned from four months after the Commission notifies it of its decision.
The Commission terminates the designation if, during an uninterrupted period of one year, the platform or search engine does not reach the number of average monthly active recipients that Article 33(1) sets.
Article 38 requires a provider of a very large online platform or search engine that uses recommender systems to provide, in addition to the requirements of Article 27, at least one option for each recommender system that is not based on profiling as defined in Article 4, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
Article 39 requires a provider of a very large online platform or search engine that presents advertisements on its online interfaces to compile and make publicly available, through a searchable and reliable tool and through application programming interfaces, a repository of information about each advertisement. The repository must be kept for the entire period during which the provider presents an advertisement and until one year after it was presented for the last time.
The repository must not contain any personal data of the recipients to whom the advertisement was or could have been presented.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.