Ireland

[IE] Review of online platforms’ compliance with EU Digital Services Act

IRIS 2024-9:1/17

James Kneale

Bar of Ireland

On 12 September 2024, Coimisiún na Meán (“the Commission”), the Irish media regulatory authority, announced the commencement of a formal review of online platforms’ systems to ensure that platforms are complying with their obligations under Articles 12 and 16 of the EU Digital Services Act (“DSA”).

Under Article 12 of the DSA, providers of intermediary services (mere conduits, caching services and hosting services) are obliged to designate a single point of contact to enable users to communicate directly and rapidly with them by electronic means and in a user-friendly manner. Providers of intermediary services must also make public the information necessary for service recipients to identify and communicate with their single points of contact quickly.

Under Article 16 of the DSA, providers of hosting services are obliged to put mechanisms in place to allow any individual or entity to notify them of the presence on their service of specific items of information that the individual or entity considers illegal content. Those mechanisms must be easy to access and user-friendly.

The Commission has issued requests for information to eight very large online platform services (TikTok, YouTube, X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Temu, Meta and Shein) and four other online platforms (Dropbox, Etsy, Hostelworld and Tumblr) established in Ireland, with a view to evaluating and understanding these platforms’ compliance with their obligations under Articles 12 and 16 of the DSA.

Once this information gathering process is complete, the Commission intends to engage with the platforms to ensure that their reporting mechanisms and points of contact comply with the requirements of the DSA. The Commission also notes that where concerns remain, it can issue a compliance notice directing platforms to address shortcomings and, ultimately, open a formal investigation, which may lead to the imposition of sanctions such as a fine.