The Economist explains

How Europe’s new digital law will change the internet

The “Brussels effect” may fizzle when the long-awaited Digital Services Act is put into action

A protester in a mask depicting Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, holds a "Regulate me" placard
Image: Getty Images

MOST PEOPLE think of Facebook as a social network and Google as a search engine. But tech geeks see these services as “platforms”: vast online territories that users inhabit. The companies that run them have mostly been free to make the rules in these digital places. But on August 25th they will lose much of this sovereignty when the rules of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) are put into action. What will this mean for internet users—not just in Europe, but worldwide?

From the August 26th 2023 edition

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