The EU’s historic regulations, which aim to promote a safer experience of the online world, came into effect on Friday 25 August. 

The DSA is the bloc's first step in creating a “rulebook” for online platforms, with the goal of creating “a safer and more open digital space, grounded in respect for fundamental rights”. 

The rules will regulate companies’ content moderation policies and advertising practices. They will also require platforms to share details of their algorithms with regulators and, in certain cases, with independent researchers.

In particular, the DSA bans targeted advertising that is aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race or political opinions. It also forbids “dark patterns” – tactics that mislead people into giving personal data to companies online. 

The new legislation will most affect 19 large digital platforms that each have more than 45 million EU users: Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon Store,...