Compliance
DSA

Digital Services Act (DSA) — Platform Regulation in the EU

Everything about the DSA — obligations for digital services, online platforms, VLOPs, content moderation, and algorithmic transparency.

What is DSA?

The Digital Services Act (EU) 2022/2065 is the EU's comprehensive framework for regulating digital intermediary services. It creates a tiered system of obligations based on service type: intermediary services, online platforms, and Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) / Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) with 45M+ monthly EU users. The DSA addresses illegal content, algorithmic transparency, online advertising, and platform accountability. It became applicable to VLOPs/VLOSEs from 25 August 2023 and to all other services from 17 February 2024.

Who It Applies To

All providers of intermediary services (ISPs, CDNs, hosting), online platforms (social networks, app stores, marketplaces), and VLOPs/VLOSEs (19 designated as of 2024, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, ByteDance).

Key Articles & Obligations

Article 2

Article 3

Article 12

Article 16

Article 20

Article 24

Article 33

Key Deadlines

VLOPs/VLOSEs

25 Aug 2023

Designated platforms must comply with enhanced obligations.

All other services

17 Feb 2024

Full DSA obligations apply to all in-scope digital services.

Fines & Enforcement

Up to 6% of worldwide annual turnover. Periodic penalties up to 5% of average daily turnover. Up to 1% for providing incorrect or misleading information during investigations.

Tiered Obligation Framework

The DSA applies progressively more obligations as the scale and risk of the service increases.

  • All intermediary services: transparency reporting, contact point, terms and conditions
  • Hosting services: notice-and-action mechanism, statement of reasons for content removal
  • Online platforms: additional obligations including complaint handling, out-of-court dispute settlement, advertising transparency, recommender system transparency
  • VLOPs/VLOSEs: most stringent — risk assessments, independent audits, crisis response, data access for researchers, ad repository

Content Moderation and Illegal Content

The DSA establishes clear procedures for handling illegal content while preserving intermediary liability exemptions.

  • Platforms must provide a clear, easy-to-use notice mechanism for reporting illegal content
  • Decisions to remove or restrict content must be accompanied by a statement of reasons
  • Users have the right to appeal content removal decisions through internal complaint handling
  • Out-of-court dispute settlement bodies must be available for resolving disputes
  • Platforms with 45M+ EU users must conduct annual systemic risk assessments for illegal content dissemination

How Law4Devs Helps with DSA Compliance

Law4Devs provides all 93 DSA articles as structured JSON from EUR-Lex. Filter by service tier, obligation category, and actor role. Cross-reference with the DMA, GDPR, and AI Act.

Related Regulations

Query DSA via API

GET /v1/frameworks/dsa/articles
200 OK · structured JSON · official EUR-Lex source

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Digital Services Act?

The Digital Services Act (EU Regulation 2022/2065) is the EU's comprehensive framework for regulating digital intermediary services, establishing clear accountability rules for online platforms operating in the European single market. Containing 93 articles, the DSA creates a tiered system of obligations based on the type and scale of digital service: intermediary services (mere conduit, caching, hosting), online platforms (including marketplaces, app stores, and social networks), and Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) with 45 million or more monthly active EU users. The DSA addresses illegal content, algorithmic transparency, online advertising practices, and platform accountability. It became applicable to VLOPs and VLOSEs from 25 August 2023 and to all other in-scope services from 17 February 2024. The regulation replaces key provisions of the e-Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC while preserving the foundational liability exemptions for intermediary services. Law4Devs provides all 93 DSA articles as structured JSON, queryable by service type and obligation category.

Who does the DSA apply to?

EU Regulation 2022/2065 applies to all providers of intermediary services offering services to recipients in the European Union, regardless of where the provider is established. This covers four cumulative tiers of obligations. The broadest tier includes all intermediary services: internet service providers (mere conduit), content delivery networks (caching), and hosting services including cloud infrastructure providers. Online platforms — services that store and disseminate information to the public at the request of users — face additional obligations, covering social networks, app stores, online marketplaces, travel and accommodation platforms, and content-sharing platforms. Very Large Online Platforms and Very Large Online Search Engines, defined as those reaching 45 million or more monthly active users in the EU, face the most stringent requirements. The European Commission has designated 19 VLOPs and 2 VLOSEs as of 2024, including platforms operated by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft, and others. Law4Devs lets you filter DSA articles by service tier and obligation type to identify exactly which provisions apply to your platform.

What are DSA fines?

Under EU Regulation 2022/2065, Digital Services Act fines can reach up to 6% of the provider's total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year. For periodic penalty payments — imposed to compel compliance with binding decisions — the maximum is 5% of average daily worldwide turnover per day of non-compliance. Very Large Online Platforms and VLOSEs face direct supervision by the European Commission, which can conduct inspections, request access to databases and algorithms, and impose fines independently. The Commission can also impose fines of up to 1% of annual turnover for providing incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information during investigations. Where a provider systematically fails to comply, the Commission or national authorities can seek interim measures or, as a last resort, temporary restriction of access to the service. Member State Digital Services Coordinators serve as the primary enforcement bodies for non-VLOP providers and must ensure penalties are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive. Law4Devs structures all DSA enforcement and penalty provisions as queryable JSON, helping platform engineering teams assess compliance risk by service tier.

How does Law4Devs help with the DSA?

Law4Devs provides all 93 articles of EU Regulation 2022/2065 as structured, machine-readable JSON via a REST API, sourced directly from EUR-Lex. Platform engineering and trust-and-safety teams can query DSA articles by service tier (intermediary, hosting, online platform, VLOP/VLOSE), obligation category (transparency reporting, content moderation, notice-and-action, algorithmic accountability, advertising transparency, data access for researchers), and actor role (provider, user, trusted flagger, Digital Services Coordinator). Each response includes the full legal text, article metadata, semantic tags, and cross-references to related provisions in the DMA, GDPR, AI Act, and e-Commerce Directive. The API tracks EUR-Lex amendments and Commission delegated acts automatically, ensuring integrations reflect the latest consolidated text. Responses average 34 milliseconds, suitable for embedding in trust-and-safety dashboards, content moderation workflows, and regulatory compliance pipelines. Official SDKs are available for Python, TypeScript, Java, Rust, PHP, and Dart on GitHub.

Access DSA as Structured JSON

All articles, recitals, and amendments — queryable, filterable, and always up to date.