Frequently asked questions about the Digital Services Act (DSA)
The obligations imposed by the Digital Services Act (DSA) apply to all online services, referred to as 'intermediary services' in the DSA. Intermediary services include
- conduit services (e.g. wireless local area networks and internet exchange points);
- caching services (e.g. provision of content delivery networks); and
- hosting services (e.g. cloud computing, web hosting services, search engines, content delivery sites, social networks, online marketplaces, application stores, accommodation and travel booking sites, and other online platforms).
The DSA imposes obligations on intermediary services according to the type and size of service. To be able to appropriately comply with the DSA's requirements, every online service provider must define the intermediary services offered by it.
The obligations for online platforms do not apply to small enterprises and microenterprises. Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC defines microenterprises and small enterprises as enterprises which employ fewer than 50 persons and have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 10 million.
Read more:
The Commission website on the Digital Services Act
Obligations for online platforms (Traficom's website)
What are online platforms? (Traficom's website)
Definition of microenterprises and small enterprises in the Commission Recommendation (Commission website)
Yes. Online services offered by municipalities and authorities must also comply with the transparency and safety requirements for online platforms.
Municipals and authorities must assess the type and size of their intermediary services to determine which of the DSA's obligations apply to their online services.
Yes, if the company or organisation offering the online platform is not a microenterprise or small enterprise.
In Finland, the supervision of compliance with the DSA has been split between Traficom, the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman, the Consumer Ombudsman and the National Audit Office of Finland.
The Data Protection Ombudsman supervises the identifiability of business-to-business advertising on online platforms, the transparency of online advertising and recommender systems, and the protection of minors on online platforms. These obligations are provided for in Articles 26–28 of the DSA.
In Finland, compliance with the DSA is mainly supervised by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom). For example, Traficom supervises the obligations related to notification channels for illegal content.
The Consumer Ombudsman supervises companies' advertising targeted at consumers, the identifiability of commercial advertising and the identifiability of traders in online marketplaces. The Consumer Ombudsman also supervises that online platforms are not designed in misleading or manipulative ways.
The National Audit Office of Finland supervises the identifiability of political and societal advertising on online platforms.
Very large online platforms and search engines are supervised by the European Commission.
Read more:
Information on the Digital Services Act and powers of the Data Protection Ombudsman on our website
If the content or advertising shown to users of online platforms is based on the recommending of content, they must be clearly informed of this. The user must be informed of how the recommender systems impact the way content or advertising is displayed to them. Users must also be informed of how they can influence how content or advertising is displayed to them.
The online platform's terms of use must state the recommender systems' main criteria and variables on which the recommending of content to users is based. The terms of use must also indicate whether these parameters can be changed and how the user can influence them.
If advertising is shown on the online platform, users must be informed of the parameters used for advertising and whether they can change these parameters. This information must be presented directly in connection with the advertisements shown.
In its terms of use, the online platform provider must give at least the following information on the parameters used in its recommender systems:
- the main criteria and variables used to recommend content to users; and
- the relative importance of the parameters for showing content.
If an online platform (e.g. website or application) recommends content to users based on more than one parameter, the platform must have a functionality with which users can change the logic by which the recommended content is ranked. This functionality must be easily useable on the online platform, directly in the section where content is recommended to the user.
The recommender system transparency obligations apply to all online platforms falling within the scope of the DSA, regardless of any fees for their use.
Yes. As a rule, all advertising must be identifiable, and commercial messages may not be concealed in other communications. The Consumer Ombudsman is principally responsible for monitoring the identifiability requirements on advertising.
The DSA requires online platforms to guarantee the privacy and safety of minors. Protection of minors must be taken into account already in the design stage of online platforms. Ways of taking minors into account in online platform design include default privacy settings, limiting the access of minors to harmful content, or offering parental control tools to custodians.
You can notify the service provider, such as the online platform, directly of the content or problem you have noticed. Service providers are obliged to offer a channel that anyone can use to easily report illegal content or content in violation of the terms of use that they notice in the service.
Service users also have the right to be informed of the decision made by the service provider due to the report. Such decisions should be open to redress. The service provider must have an effective and free internal complaint processing system for this purpose.
The authorities oversee the lawfulness of the service provider's practices. In the event of an issue, the user can file a complaint with the authorities after attempting to clear the matter up with the service provider.
Read more:
Rights and obligations of online platform users (Traficom's website)
First notify the service provider, such as the administrator of the online platform, directly of the problem you have noticed.
The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman supervises service providers' obligations with regard to the identifiability of business-to-business advertising, transparency of recommender systems and protection of minors on the web. You can contact the Data Protection Ombudsman if advertising is being targeted by making use of sensitive personal data or the personal data of a minor, if there are problems in the identifiability of political advertising, or if the online platform provider is not ensuring the privacy and safety of children in its service.
You can contact the Consumer Obmudsman in matters involving advertising targeted at consumers and the identifiability of commercial advertising. You can contact the National Audit Office of Finland in matters involving the identifiability of political and societal advertising.