Digital Services Act in force for a year – nearly 80 complaints to authorities in Finland in 2024
The EU's Digital Services Act imposes obligations on digital service providers to improve the transparency and security of their services. Last year, authorities in Finland received nearly 80 complaints about suspected breaches of the Digital Services Act, and the EU Commission has launched several investigations into digital waste. The act, which improves users' rights, has been fully in force for one year as of February 2025.
The Finnish authorities received a total of 78 complaints under the Digital Services Act (DSA) in 2024, according to the annual report published by Traficom on 24 February. Of the major social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok received the most complaints. Typical complaints concerned situations where a user's account had been closed or content posted by a user had been removed without justification.
Seven of the complaints concerned Finnish service providers. They did not, however, result in a formal investigation.
The Digital Services Act regulates so-called online intermediaries including storage services, online platforms and online marketplaces. Users can report any illegal content they encounter directly to the company. In problematic situations, the user can complain to the authorities if the service provider has not fulfilled its obligations. The complaint can be made after the user has first tried to clarify the matter with the service provider.
Only a few complaints to the Data Protection Ombudsman
Seventy-two of the complaints were made to the Finnish Transportation and Communications Agency Traficom. The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman and the Consumer Ombudsman each received three complaints. Traficom is the main enforcer of the Digital Services Act.
The Data Protection Ombudsman monitors the identifiability of ideological and societal advertising, the transparency of online advertising and recommender systems, and the protection of minors on online platforms. The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman can also be contacted if advertising is targeted using the personal data of a minor or sensitive personal data, such as political opinions.
The Consumer Ombudsman monitors, among other things, the obligations relating to the identifiability of advertising and the prohibition of manipulative practices.
EU commission investigates very large online platforms
The strictest obligations in the Digital Services Act apply to large multinational online platforms, such as large social media services and search engines. These very large online platforms are supervised by the European Commission. The Commission has a number of formal investigations under way into the activities of companies such as Meta, TikTok, X and Google.
Complaints received by the Finnish authorities about very large online platforms are also referred to the Commission.
Further information:
2024 Annual Report under the Digital Services Act (PDF, Traficom website) (in Finnish)
Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom press release on the Traficom website: Authorities received nearly 80 complaints about suspected breaches of the Digital Agenda in 2024 (24 February 2025) (in Finnish)
Frequently asked questions about the Digital Services Act on our website
Obligations for online platforms on the Traficom website
The rights and obligations of an online platform user on the Traficom website
Information about the Digital Services Act on the European Commission website