EU agrees deal to tame internet ‘Wild West’

EU agrees deal to tame internet ‘Wild West’

BRUSSELS: The European Union on Saturday finalized new legislation to require Big Tech to remove harmful content, the bloc’s latest move to rein in the world’s online giants. The Digital Services Act (DSA) — the second part of a massive project to regulate tech companies-aims to ensure tougher consequences for platforms and websites that host a long list of banned content, from hate speech to disinformation and child sexual abuse images.

EU officials and parliamentarians finally reached agreement at talks in Brussels early Saturday on the legislation, which has been in the works since 2020. “Today’s agreement on DSA is historic,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen tweeted. “Our new rules will protect users online, ensure freedom of expression and opportunities for businesses. What is illegal offline will effectively be illegal online in the EU.”

“Yes, we have a deal!” European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton tweeted. “With the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ is coming to an end. A major milestone for EU citizens,” said Breton, who has previously described the internet as the “Wild West”.

The EU’s provisional agreement reached Saturday remains subject to formal approval by the 27 member