The Digital Services Act’s main purpose is to replace the e-Commerce Directive of 2000, which is outdated and no longer adequately deals with the challenges of today’s digital environment. Illegal trade on the internet has significantly increased and platforms have taken on a major role in our daily lives. Therefore, the European Commission has recognised the need to modernise the current legal framework to ensure the safety of users online and to allow innovative digital businesses to grow, while at the same time respecting the basic principles underpinning the current legal framework of the e-Commerce Directive.
A key change would concern the liability rules and, more specifically, the wish of the European Commission to impose more liability on digital services providers for content available on their platform. The idea would be to distinguish between various types of providers and, in some cases, to impose ‘proactive measures’ to avoid direct liability. Such measures could include upload filters, as required by the recently adopted Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The current e-Commerce Directive prohibits imposing a general monitoring obligation on online providers for user generated content, making the freedom of expression of the users prevail. This absolute prohibition could be more refined in the future, as specific provisions governing algorithms for automated filtering technologies could be considered, to provide for the necessary transparency and accountability of automated content moderation systems.
Furthermore, the European Commission seeks to implement a new tool to combat emerging risks to fair competition. This could involve imposing an obligation on large internet platforms to share data with smaller competitors and/or putting narrow limits on how large internet platforms can use data, in a bid to level the digital playing field.