Yesterday, 01 February 2023, the Commission published guidance on how online platforms and search engines within the scope of the Digital Services Act (DSA) should comply with their obligation to report user numbers in the EU.

As highlighted in our recent update, the DSA requires providers of online platforms and of online search engines to publish, by 17 February 2023, information on the average monthly active recipients of their services in the EU, on their publicly available online interfaces. The number must be calculated as an average over the period of the past six months.

Online platforms/search engines, whose numbers reach the threshold of 45 million average monthly active recipients in the EU, will be designated by the Commission as very large online service providers (VLOPs) or very large online search engines (VLOSEs). However, the Commission is not bound by information provided by online service providers, – it may use other available data or request additional information.

While the guidance is not ground breaking, it provides a helpful interpretation of certain provision of the DSA.

In relation to the calculation of active recipients of the service, the guidance stipulates the following:Continue Reading DSA: Commission issues guidance on the requirement to publish user numbers in the EU