Digital Services Act (DSA)
The EU rulebook that makes online intermediaries handle illegal-content reports, explain moderation, label ads, and disclose how platforms operate.
What it is
The Digital Services Act is the EU rulebook for intermediary services such as hosting providers, online platforms, and marketplaces. Depending on the service, it can require a notice-and-action channel for illegal content, reasons for moderation decisions, advertising transparency, trader traceability, complaint handling, and reports about moderation. Very large online platforms and search engines, generally those reaching at least 45 million average monthly active recipients in the EU, carry extra systemic-risk duties.
Reach for the DSA when your product stores, distributes, or helps people find information supplied by users and is offered to people in the EU. Map the service category first, then build the notices, decision records, appeals, ad labels, and reporting that category actually requires.
Gotcha: 'the DSA applies' does not mean every DSA obligation applies. A mere conduit, hosting service, online platform, marketplace, and very large platform sit on different rungs. Copying a social network's compliance checklist into a small hosting product creates noise while missing the duties tied to the product's real role.
Ask AI for it
Build a Digital Services Act compliance map for the product described below. Classify each service as mere conduit, caching, hosting, online platform, online marketplace, search engine, or a potential VLOP or VLOSE using the DSA threshold of 45 million average monthly active EU recipients. Implement an Article 16 notice-and-action form, an Article 17 statement of reasons with stable decision IDs, an Article 20 internal complaint route for online platforms, Article 26 ad labels that identify the advertiser and payer, Article 30 trader traceability for marketplaces, and export fields compatible with the EU DSA Transparency Database. Produce a responsibility matrix, event schema, retention schedule, and test cases. Put uncertain classifications and exemptions in bracketed TODOs for counsel.