EU may agree on stringent tech services regulation very soon

The European Union (EU) can agree , as early as Friday (April 22), on a new regulation that will impose unprecedented curbs on online content. The regulation will represent the second part of the bloc's massive project to regulate tech companies.

The act, named Digital Services Act (DSA) is focused on ensuring tougher consequences for online platforms that violate rules about banned content.

The text is the companion to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which targeted anti-competitive practices among tech behemoths like Google and Facebook and was concluded in late March. 

News Agency AFP cited a European source to say that Member of European Parliaments (MEPs) and EU countries were "very motivated" to reach agreement on the new regulation on Friday.

The act has been designed to tackle hate speech, disinformation, the selling of dangerous products. It also aimed agains other abusive online behaviour like spreading of so-called 'revenge porn'.

"What is allowed in everyday life will be allowed on the internet, but everything that is prohibited will be as well," EU internal markets commissioner Thierry Breton said earlier this year, describing the internet as the "Wild West". 

Tech giants have been repeatedly called out for failing to police their platforms -- a New Zealand terrorist attack that was livestreamed on Facebook in 2019 caused global outrage, and the chaotic insurrection in the US last year was promoted online.

(With inputs from agencies)