The newly passed Digital Services Act (DSA) in the European Union is what some may call Rorschach legislation or, depending on your point of view, an intermediary liability bill, an illegal content bill, or even a platform accountability bill. However we choose to label it, we should ask ourselves: Is it the path forward? Let’s examine the bill and understand what makes it novel, unique, and potentially the future of how online platforms are regulated.
The DSA is a complex and dense piece of legislation that creates rights and obligations for users and online service providers, creates new institutions at the level of the EU, and builds on previous standards and regulations. Beyond the specific pieces of rights and obligations that others have already explained in depth, the DSA is novel in two ways and unique in at least two other ways within the platform governance discussion. While part of its uniqueness is connected to its existence as a creation of the EU, the holistic approach it takes allows for complex and layered solutions to a wide array of platform governance issues. These aspects have an important role to play in whether it can be the blueprint for other jurisdictions.
Source: Is the DSA a New Dawn of Legislating Platform Governance Globally? | Lawfare