EU to unveil landmark law to force Big Tech to police illegal content

The EU is poised to unveil a landmark law on Friday that will force Big Tech to police their platforms more aggressively over illegal content, marking the latest move by regulators to curb the power of large technology groups.

According to four people with knowledge of the discussions, the practice of targeting users based on their religion, gender or sexual preferences will be banned under the Digital Services Act.

For the first time, the rules on how Big Tech should keep users safe online are set in a legislative package. The Digital Markets Act was passed by the EU a month ago, and it is pushing ahead with the biggest rewrite of the laws governing the world's biggest technology companies in more than two decades.

Dark patterns will be banned under the DSA because they lead people to unwillingly click on content on the Internet.

The EU's executive vice president in charge of digital policy said she was hopeful of a breakthrough on Friday. She said the DSA would allow regulators to act so that users could be safe online, buy products and express themselves.

Children will be subject to new safeguards as part of a deal between member states, the European Commission, and the European parliament, meaning online platforms such as YouTube or TikTok will need to explain their terms and conditions in a way a minor can understand. Under the new rules, Meta will not be able to target children with advertising.

The EU official working on the legislation said that the DSA shows that online platforms can't do whatever they want and that they don't have to set terms.

An emergency mechanism will be included to force platforms to reveal what steps they are taking to tackle misinformation in light of the war in Ukraine.

Medium-sized platforms are likely to be given a grace period until they are able to fully comply with the new rules, while large companies such as Amazon will have to comply once the rules are enacted.

Two people with direct knowledge of the matter said that Big Tech will pay the fees to make sure they are complying with their obligations.

Large platforms with at least 45 million users in the bloc will pay a yearly bill of between 20 million and 30 million. Up to 6 percent of global turnover will be fines for companies that break the rules.

The new rule book will mean that search engines will have to assess and mitigate risks when it comes to users spreading misinformation on its platform.

Big Tech has become too big to care according to the EU's internal market commissioner.

Some warned that the final agreement could change at the last minute, as regulators expect a deal to be struck on Friday.

There are disagreements within the European parliament between liberals and greens who want more privacy protections.

Christel Schaldemose told the Financial Times that this was the best time for a deal.

We need better rules and protection for users. She said that the platforms have to do risk assessment and risk mitigation to protect us.

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