Debate: Digital Services Act: Improving the functioning of the Single Market - Digital Services Act: adapting commercial and civil law rules for commercial entities operating online - Digital Services Act and fundamental rights issues posed - Framework of ethical aspects of artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologies - Civil liability regime for artificial intelligence - Intellectual property rights for the development of artificial intelligence technologies
Date: MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2020
Speaker: Alex Agius Saliba
Country: Malta
Language: EN

After months of negotiations, more than 1 000 amendments in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and a lot of hard work, this Committee agreed on a progressive and robust report on the Digital Services Act.  First of all, I would like to thank all the shadow rapporteurs working with me on the IMCO report for their transparency and also for their cooperation. I do not think that we would have been able to achieve this tangible positive result without all the support, which I hope you can confirm in tomorrow’s vote in the same way that you did during the negotiations and the vote in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Affairs.  Today we are discussing all three DSA reports. Despite the fact that they are interlinked, they all have different scopes. The IMCO report is the one that deals with the comprehensive revision of the 20-year-old e-Commerce Directive and the first—ever internal market  The Committee recommendations touch upon a range of issues. However, some of the fundamental points and measures that the Commission must, and should, introduce in the DSA are as follows. First of all, introduce the principle that what is illegal offline should also be illegal online, together with consumer protection and also user—safety principles. The second point is to extend the scope of the DSA to companies established outside Europe, mainly the ones targeting our European market, our European consumers and our European citizens. The third point is that the online harmful business models’ manipulation and discriminatory practices, designed to maximise user attention dedicated to the platform based on illegal or sensationalist content, must be addressed through privacy and accountability measures such as the ‘Know Your Business Customer’ principle. The ‘Know Your Business Customer’ is a new obligation on platforms to check and stop fraudulent companies from using their services. Such a measure would reduce the number of illegitimate traders and illegal activities online.  The Commission must promote transparent advertising practices that do not track our consumers and users through the Net. To this end, the DSA should include stricter measures on harmful advertising practices, digital nudging, microtargeting, recommended systems for advertisement, and also preferential treatment.  Another essential element in my report is targeted measures on online marketplaces and here we have dedicated a whole chapter in our report targeting online marketplaces such as Amazon and Alibaba. Consumers should be equally safe when shopping online or in stores and the Commission must, and should, address and reinforce liability for online marketplaces.  The report also deals with the e-Commerce Directive’s fundamental parts, dealing with the liability regime when removing illegal content online. Finally, we are also proposing, for the first time in the digital sector,  I would like to conclude by saying that I am hopeful that we can get your support for the IMCO report in tomorrow’s vote and that this institution will send a strong message to the Commission on the measures to be included in the DSA.