#digital services act

[lura-valentine]

I hate to do this, but we need to talk.

On X/Twitter, I and other users are forced to reveal our private identities in order to continue viewing NSFW content.

They ask for our ID – equivalent to a social security number in the USA.

➥ "We are required by regulations such as the UK Online Safety Act, the Irish Online Safety Code and the European Union Digital Services Act to verify your age to access certain types of content."

⚠️If Tumblr goes the same way, or even has to go the same way, I will put down my pen and give up writing fanfiction.⚠️

I want everyone to be able to see my work, which will soon no longer be possible due to this law/the website owners' practices. And exclusively youth friendly content is simply boring in the long run in the fanfiction area.

Also, I HAVE to stop reading fanfiction because how am I supposed to do that when I'm no longer ALLOWED to view NSFW content without revealing my personal information?

The same applies to art marked as NSFW.

I love my hobby, but it's not worth giving criminals the opportunity to impersonate me. It is far too risky to reveal your identity in this way, even if the platform is reputable.

As long as Tumblr handles this as it has done so far, I will continue to publish my fanfiction and delight you with my work.❤️

[trickster-archangel]

Ok, this is actually such recent news that it's not even one day old, and I really don't know how it will work out in the end. But in the light of the recent, dystopian news about UK and Australia (and the neverending stream of screaming prophets of Child Online Protection Shit from USA) and their policies about internet age verification, maybe it's good news.

Especially the bit about the safety of the user private identify and the not-tracking of internet activity, if true:

"It will, for example, allow users to easily prove they are over 18 when accessing restricted adult content online, while remaining in full control of any other personal information, such as a user's exact age or identity. No one would be able to track, see or reconstruct what content individual users are consulting."

Here’s the short article from the EU Commission:

[destiel-news-channel]

[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'Elon Musk is now considering the possibility of blocking Twitter (X) for all EU users' to Cas' 'I love you'. /End ID]

[siriuslydandy]

(petition)

[techniktagebuch]

10. Juli 2024

Hahn essen hinterm Wohnwagen und der Jugendmedienschutz

Der Tagespresse entnehme ich, dass eine weitere Erwachsenenvideoplattform in die Liste der "sehr großen Onlineplattformen" des Digital Services Act der EU aufgenommen wurde, von der ich allerdings noch nie etwas gehört habe. Das erwischt mich unvorbereitet, also muss ich natürlich sofort nachschauen, um was es eigentlich geht. Denn es kann ja nicht sein, dass ich einen Dienst von dieser Liste nicht kenne, wo es doch explizit um sehr große Plattformen geht, die alle kennen. Also anscheinend alle außer mir. FOMO, ick hör dir trapsen.

Die Seite ist erstaunlich lieblos und altbacken gestaltet und zeigt die übliche Rasteransicht mit Videothumbnails und Titeln. Wenn man mit dem Mauszeiger über ein Video fährt, wird eine kurze praktische Vorschau geladen, also alles wie anderswo auch. Ich scrolle über das Angebot, wundere mich wie immer über die überstarke Präsenz bestimmter eigentlich besonders tabuisierter Genres und stocke bei einem Video mit dem Titel "Hahn essen hinterm Wohnwagen". Was zur? Als ich die Vorschau sehe, wird mir schnell klar, wie das Video eigentlich heißt und dass auf der Seite einfach sehr seltsame Übersetzungen der Titel angezeigt werden.

Diese Seuche, also das sinnentstellende und vor allem ungefragte Übersetzen von Videotiteln, habe ich schon öfter gesehen, aber entweder ist die Übersetzung noch zutreffend genug, dass das nicht allzusehr stört (etwa meistens bei YouTube) oder die Seite hat einen domänenspezifischen Übersetzungskatalog, der die entsprechenden Szenebegriffe sinngemäß übertragen kann. Letzteres treibt mitunter seltsame Stilblüten und ist für Leute wie mich, die im Bereich Erwachsenenunterhaltung im Internet mit 15 in den 1990er-Jahren mit englischen Szenebegriffen sozialisiert wurden, alles andere als hilfreich. Aber heute merke ich, wie hilfreich es dann doch ist, wenigstens angemessene deutsche Entsprechungen zu nutzen statt eines allgemeinen Katalogs. Hahn essen … dabei geht es da überraschenderweise gar nicht um das beliebte Imbissgericht 🤔.

Andererseits habe ich so wenigstens etwas zu lachen. Bei dieser Seite lässt sich die Sprache auf Englisch umstellen, was die meisten Videotitel in Ruhe lässt, dafür hat man aber bei deutschen Titeln jetzt das umgekehrte Problem und Deutsch ist auf solchen Plattformen nach meinem Eindruck die mit Abstand zweithäufigste Sprache. Vielleicht bin ich da aber auch nur Opfer eines wohlmeinenden Algorithmus, der mir mit meinem auf Deutsch eingestellten Browser und meiner deutschen IP-Adresse einfach alle verfügbaren deutschen Videos anbietet. Vielleicht bin ich auch vorwiegend in einem Spektrum unterwegs, das besonders viel deutschen Content hat. Wie auch immer, ich wünsche mir eine Welt zurück, in der Inhalte nicht ungefragt automatisch übersetzt werden. Man darf mir gerne eine automatische Übersetzung leicht zugänglich machen, gerade bei der babylonischen Sprachvielfalt da draußen, aber doch bitte nicht ungefragt einfach machen und dann auch noch schlecht und nicht mal als übersetzt markiert. Die anderen Übersetzungen auf der Plattform sind jedenfalls auch selten hilfreich und noch schlimmer sind die übersetzten Kategorien, da muss man schon ziemlich wild überlegen, um seine gewünschte Nische zu finden.

Eine informationsarchitektonische Katastrophe, aber vielleicht bin ich auch einfach alt und die ganzen Zwölfjährigen kommen mit dem Begriffschaos besser klar, ich habe ja auch seinerzeit die englischen Begriffe alle erst lernen müssen und die lernen eben Hahn essen als einschlägig. Apropos Zwölfjährige: Die Aufnahme auf diese Liste hat für den Dienst einige lästige Folgen, vor allem muss nun eine funktionierende Altersverifikation durchgeführt werden und wisst Ihr, wer es seit 25 Jahren nicht gebacken bekommt, eine solche allgemein akzeptiert so zu implementieren, dass man als erwachsener Mensch nicht seine Anonymität bei der Nutzung von solchen Diensten aufgeben müsste, wo man doch gerade hier zuvorderst anonym bleiben möchte? Richtig, die Techunternehmen und auch die Branche der Erwachsenenunterhaltung in condesaströser Untätigkeit.

Als ich 2007 meine Bachelorarbeit geschrieben habe, wo ich mich recht intensiv mit dem Thema auseindergesetzt habe, gab es mit der GeldKarte ein vielversprechendes System, das bereits weit verbreitet war und tatsächlich eine anonyme und nicht bloß pseudonyme und zudem extrem kostengünstige Altersverifikation ermöglichte, zusätzlich zu einer praktisch weitgehend anonymen und ebenfalls vergleichsweise kostengünstigen Bezahllösung für Kleinbeträge. Die kam aber letztlich nur bei Zigarettenautomaten zum Einsatz, weil es in der Zeit vor RFID-Karten und Smartphones mit entsprechenden Leseeinheiten schlicht kaum Kartenlesegeräte an Computern gab. Zur Erinnerung: Das war auch eine Zeit, als man noch Treiber für solche Hardware installieren musste und spätestens da waren die meisten Leute zu Recht mit überfordert. Heute sind wir leider weiter von einem funktionierenden System zur anonymen Altersverifikation entfernt als vor 15 Jahren, wir müssen also weiter dabei zusehen, wie unsere Kinder ungehindert an eine ganze Bandbreite von Content mit sehr sehr fortgeschrittenen Praktiken der Ein-, Zwei- und Mehrsamkeit kommen.

Ich bin da offen gesagt zwiegespalten, weil ich einerseits Jugendschutz als Betroffener immer zutiefst abgelehnt und als absurde Einschränkung meines Informationsbedürfnisses empfunden habe, mir aber andererseits schon vorstellen kann, dass ein sehr merkwürdiges Bild in den Köpfen von noch nicht so weit fortgeschrittenen Menschen entsteht, wenn sie die praktisch unbeschränkten Inhalte der einschlägigen Plattformen konsumieren und auch keine Einordnung dazu geliefert bekommen. Ganz schön kaltes Wasser. Andererseits ist das kein Problem, das ich direkt an das Alter klemmen würde, denn auch die meisten Erwachsenen wären ziemlich aufgeschmissen, wenn sie die ganzen Abgründe schauen würden und tun das daher gar nicht erst.

Und entsprechende Warnungen und Vorab-Einordnungen kann man auch Jugendlichen mitgeben, damit sie nicht selber darauf kommen müssen: Zieh Dir das nur rein, wenn Du Dich fit dafür fühlst. Da gibt es für Außenstehende sehr verstörenden Kram und auch das sich auf solchen Plattformen ergebende Gesamtbild ist hart verzerrt und stellt sehr oft keine "normale" zwischenmenschliche Interaktion dar, sondern bedient zumeist sehr einseitig irgendwelche mal mehr, mal weniger weirden Fantasien. Die kann man einfach mal neutral zur Kenntnis nehmen, sollte sich aber auch bewusst machen, dass das trotzdem etwas mit einem macht. Letztlich ist das wie bei allem Medienkonsum: Man muss lernen, damit umzugehen.

(Gregor Meyer)

[tomorrowusa]

Whether he really said he would do it or not, donating sperm for Mars sounds like something Elon Musk would do. It's amazing, as well as cautionary, that the real life mega-rich behave like wannabe James Bond villains.

Elon Musk has denied that he offered up his sperm to help start a colony on Mars. The SpaceX founder, who has previously warned that humanity must colonize Mars if it is to survive, said he had not made a personal contribution to that effort after The New York Times reported he had volunteered his sperm as part of SpaceX's plans to build a city on the red planet. "I have not, for what it's worth, 'volunteered my sperm'" wrote Musk in a post on X. [ ... ] According to the NYT report, which is based on interviews with more than 20 people close to Musk and SpaceX and on internal SpaceX documents, Musk has directed SpaceX employees to investigate the details of how a Mars colony would work, with one team drawing up plans for a series of dome-shaped habitats on the red planet. A SpaceX medical team is also reportedly looking into whether it is possible for humans to have children on Mars, the Times wrote. Two people with knowledge of Musk's comments also told the NYT the Tesla CEO had volunteered his sperm to help grow the colony.

A colony of inbred Martians Muskians on the Red Planet would be a great subject for a comedic dystopian novel or TV series. Perhaps a clone of Musk's hair transplant surgeon would also be present at the colony.

Elon's Martian sperm is not the only news regarding him today.

Elon Musk's X platform in breach of EU rules

Preliminary findings from the European Commission on Friday said tech billionaire Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) social media platform was in breach of EU digital content rules. "Today, the Commission has informed X of its preliminary view that it is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers," the European Commission said in a statement. [ ... ] "Back in the day, BlueChecks used to mean trustworthy sources of information," European Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a statement. "Now with X, our preliminary view is that they deceive users and infringe the DSA." Secondly, the Commission said that X was not in compliance with "required transparency on advertising" and did not provide "a searchable and reliable advertisement repository." In the third preliminary finding, the Commission said that X "fails to provide access to its public data to researchers" which it said need to be in line with the DSA.

[ginnyw-potter-archive]

The European Union is rolling out a law that forces websites like Facebook and Tiktok to give users the choice to switch the algorithm off. This will eventually apply to all websites.

Additionally it has stricter rules on the personalisation of advertisements (restriction on the use of sensitive information) and tries to combat misinformation (though there were concerns about free speech and censorship)

But overall this is pretty good news as it allows us to escape the algorithms and gives some power back to the internet users!

[sparklyshoesharkthing-blog]

Temu dans le viseur de Bruxelles : des jouets pour bébé et appareils électroniques jugés dangereux

Temu, un géant chinois sous pression européenne La plateforme d’e-commerce Temu, connue pour ses prix très bas, est aujourd’hui accusée par la Commission européenne de violer les règles du Digital Services Act (DSA). Une enquête menée par Bruxelles a révélé que le site vendait massivement des produits illégaux ou non conformes aux normes de sécurité de l’UE, en particulier des jouets pour bébé…

[lawrbit]

📘 How the EU Digital Services Act Is Reshaping Corporate Compliance in 2025

With the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) now in force, global companies and platforms face a new reality: stricter content controls, robust transparency requirements, and heightened accountability. Far from affecting only European internet platforms, these rules are setting a precedent for all large-scale digital operations.

This blog explores how the DSA impacts corporate governance, regulatory workflows, and compliance across sectors. We also discuss why businesses should proactively adopt modern compliance management systems and regulatory compliance risk management tools to stay ahead.

🌐 What the DSA Means for Businesses

Effective since August 2023, the DSA targets very large online platforms and search engines serving EU users. Key requirements include:

Content moderation with transparency

Annual risk assessments linked to disinformation, illegal content, and user ramifications

Algorithmic auditing and reporting

Independent auditing and sanctions compliance

Traceability of business users interacting on digital platforms

Essentially, if your platform touches European users— even indirectly—you're now subject to the DSA's oversight.

🧩 Why the DSA Demands Smart Compliance Tools

The scope and complexity of DSA obligations exceed what manual processes can support. To avoid delays or non-compliance, organizations must look to compliance automation software.

This includes:

Scheduled risk assessments with triggers for escalation

Transparency dashboards for policy enforcement

Centralized storage of audit logs, takedown timelines, and related documents

Automated alerts for regulatory updates or suspension risks

DSA compliance isn’t just about following the rules; it’s about embedding governance risk and compliance software into core operations—platform design, content policies, and legal workflows.

🚀 Scaling Impact: Mandatory Transparency & Accountability

Let’s break down some critical DSA requirements: DSA ObligationCompliance InsightRisk AssessmentConduct and publish annual assessments tied to digital disinformation and safetyCrisis ResponseTakedown illegal content within set deadlinesAlgorithmic AuditsDisclose how algorithms prioritize content/adsReports & MetadataProvide open logs on moderation actions and appeals

Manually handling these tasks is risky and inefficient—especially for multi-national platforms. A modern compliance management system can centralize responsibility, automate reporting, and ensure accountability.

🛡️ Building a DSA-Ready Compliance Framework

To ensure readiness and resilience under the DSA, businesses should:

1. Adopt a Unified Compliance Platform

Enable cross-functional visibility—legal teams, developers, content moderators—through one platform.

2. Automate Risk Detection & Reporting

Use automated tools to identify compliance risks, track corrective measures, and generate reports quickly.

3. Compile Audit Trails

Record all moderation actions, takedown reasons, and escalation decisions in a searchable ledger.

4. Monitor Regulatory Changes

DSA guidelines will evolve; choose compliance software that updates rule libraries automatically.

5. Leverage Independent Audits

Ensure your system is audit-ready, programmable, and capable of generating standard compliance reports.

This technology-led approach ensures you don’t just meet DSA baseline requirements but also build durable regulatory compliance systems.

🔗 Where to Learn More

For an in-depth overview and expert analysis, check out this article on how the DSA impacts corporate compliance frameworks:

👉 EU Digital Services Act: Impact on Corporate Compliance

✅ The Bigger Picture: DSA Sets a Global Template

Beyond European borders, the DSA model is signaling the future of digital compliance:

Data protection via GDPR

Platform accountability via DSA

Ongoing legislative efforts in other countries

If you rely on digital platforms—social media, marketplaces, ad networks—this signals a new compliance baseline. Businesses must ask themselves: are we prepared?

🌟 Why You Should Invest in Compliance Now

Competitive Edge

DSA-compliant platforms earn user trust, improve brand integrity, and open enterprise partnerships.

Risk Mitigation

Automatic logging and real-time reporting reduce legal exposure and expedite incident response.

Operational Efficiency

Automated workflows reduce manual work, shorten response cycles, and improve cross-department alignment.

Future-Proofing

A robust compliance infrastructure ensures you’re ready for new regulations—whether from the EU, UK, or global jurisdictions.

🧩 Final Insights

The EU Digital Services Act may feel like a niche EU regulation, but its impact is global. Embedded accountability, platform transparency, and annual risk assessments are becoming the global standard for online operators.

To succeed in this environment, businesses must shift from reactive systems to proactive, compliance automation software solutions. Building scalable frameworks with compliance management systems and governance risk and compliance software is not optional—it’s essential.

[rcvandenboogaard]

De regering Trump wil 'regime change' in Europa

De opzienbarende toespraak van de Amerikaanse vice-president J.D. Vance in München eerder dit jaar is geen incident geweest, maar uitvloeisel van een heuse Amerikaanse buitenland-doctrine: de Verenigde Staten willen ‘regime change’ in Europa, in de vorm – onder andere – van een terugkeer naar ‘traditionele waarden’, meer ruimte voor religie in de openbare ruimte en de opheffing van beperkingen op…

[bauerntanz]

Der Digital Services Act (#DSA) soll gegen #META durchgesetzt werden. Datenschützer legen Beschwerde gegen den Internetkonzern ein

[rumblecade]

Rockabilly Beatdown - EU iOS App store update!

Unfortunately RBBD is no longer available in the EU! Because of the Digital Services Act, all iOS developers are required to provide 'Trader Status' information that requires personal contact information, adversely affecting small developers like us.

This contact info would be publicly listed. While this may be fine for large companies with offices, this is a sincere privacy concern for devs who operate out of their homes. Additionally, Apple themselves will not accept PO Boxes for dev accounts! 😠

While our EU audience is small, RBBD is localized and has been available for many years. Games on device should still work, but if you delete the app it will no longer be available in the EU. We're sorry for any new fans who may have wanted to check it out.

Our next hurdle is keeping RBBD on the App store here in the US because of our own new rules. More info on that later...

[thoughtlessarse]

The voluntary effort by online platforms dates back to 2022, and sets out a range of commitments and measures to counter fake news online. All major online platforms except Elon Musk’s X will by July see voluntary commitments on disinformation formalised under the EU’s platform rules, the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Commission announced on Thursday. The integration of the code of practice on disinformation into the DSA will “make it a benchmark for determining platforms' compliance with the DSA”, the Commission said. The code, dating back to 2022, was initiated and signed by 42 companies including Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok. It sets out a broad range of voluntary commitments and measures to counter online disinformation, such as transparency of political advertising and cooperation during elections. Making it more formal will mean that the Commission can more easily assess whether the companies comply with the DSA. However, signing it does not “presume innocence”, a senior EU official said.

continue reading

It's voluntary, which means they can ignore it, and with Trump's backing they will.

[rosszulorzott]

[brandpullservices]

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[trendynewsnow]

European Commission Reacts to Romania's Election Cancellation Amid Claims of Foreign Interference

European Commission Responds to Romania’s Unprecedented Election Cancellation The European Commission is taking a cautious stance regarding the recent cancellation of Romania’s presidential election by the nation’s Constitutional Court, a decision unprecedented in its nature and driven by claims of foreign interference. On Monday, during the first press briefing following the court’s ruling…