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The EU is close to finalizing the adoption of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which will impose new obligations on digital platforms regarding content moderation, due diligence for illegal content, and advertising transparency. It will entail significant changes to existing EU law in these areas and will impose substantial new compliance burdens on companies in regard to online content.
Continue Reading EU Reaches Political Agreement on Additional New Rules for Digital Platforms in the Digital Services Act

The European Union (EU) will soon be handed sweeping new rules to regulate the conduct of the largest digital platforms with the long-awaited Digital Markets Act (DMA). Following 15 months of intense negotiations on amendments to the original Proposal, the presidents of the main EU institutions (the Parliament, Council, and Commission) reached a political agreement on the final text of the DMA on March 24, 2022. The final vote is planned for July 2022, with the rules expected to come into effect in October 2022. It is expected that designated gatekeepers will need to comply by early 2024.
Continue Reading EU Adopts New Rules to Significantly Limit the Power of Tech Platforms

The EU Parliament and the EU Council recently adopted their respective versions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), which intend to create new antitrust-related (DMA) and regulatory (DSA) rules applicable to digital platforms.1

The adoption of the draft amendments by the EU Parliament and the EU Council constitutes a critical step towards final adoption of these laws. Now, the EU Commission (EC), Parliament, and Council are undergoing negotiations (so-called “trilogues“) to agree on a final version of the laws. The institutions could reach an agreement on the DMA and the DSA within the coming months, but it may take some time before it is enacted.
Continue Reading EU Parliament and Council Take Next Steps to Advance Major New Rules for Digital Platforms

On February 2, 2022, the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA) found that the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB) Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF), a tool used to record individuals’ online ad preferences, violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The DPA fined IAB Europe €250,000 (approx. USD 280,000), and required IAB Europe to present an action plan to bring the TCF into compliance within two months. To reach this conclusion, the DPA concluded that:
Continue Reading Belgian DPA Finds That IAB Europe’s Cookie Consent Framework Violates the GDPR

On November 26, 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held[1] that the display of advertising messages in an email inbox, in a form similar to an email, constitutes direct marketing and requires users’ consent under the ePrivacy Directive.[2]

The CJEU also held that this practice constitutes ‘persistent and unwanted solicitations’ under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive[3] when those advertising messages are displayed to users without prior consent, on a frequent and regular basis.
Continue Reading European Court of Justice Finds That “Inbox Advertising” Is Direct Marketing

They State That Direct Collection of Personal Data by Non-EU Companies Is Not a “Data Transfer” Under the GDPR

On November 18, 2021, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued guidelines (Guidelines) that—for the first time—clarify the notion of “data transfer.” Departing from common understanding, the EDPB has determined that there is no data transfer where EU data subjects disclose on their own initiative personal data directly to a non-EU company. Consequently, there is no need to implement a transfer tool in such situations. The Guidelines are open to public consultation until the end of January 2022.
Continue Reading EU Regulators Define Data Transfers