Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) are key players in the digital landscape due to their vast user bases and significant influence. VLOPs include major social media networks, content-sharing sites, and e-commerce platforms, while VLOSEs refer to search engines with massive reach and impact. Both VLOPs and VLOSEs are subject to stringent regulations, particularly under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes enhanced responsibilities on these entities to ensure transparency, user safety, and compliance with legal standards across all EU languages.
We’re excited to share that our Visionary team together with Ecorys is conducting a research commissioned by the European Commission, DG CNECT titled “Monitoring of compliance with Articles 26, 28 and 39 DSA“.
The objectives of the study are:
- To provide a comprehensive overview of the state of advertising transparency compliance across very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs).
- To provide a glimpse of the advertising transparency compliance situation for non-VLOP platforms by providing a comprehensive overview of the compliance of a selected variety of platforms.
- To examine and compare the state of compliance across all official EU languages in which the respective services are provided.
- To identify any gaps in compliance.
To achieve this Visionary Analytics will conduct a systematic analysis of every VLOP and VLOSE across all of the official EU languages. Checking for compliance will include manual monitoring of advertisements on the VLOPs and VLOSEs and other non-VLOP platforms. Furthermore, the assessment will include an analysis of the contents, functionality and usability of ad repositories and associated APIs provided by the VLOPs and VLOSEs. The analysis will yield insights into best practices, areas for improvement, and provide recommendations for the VLOPs and VLOSEs.
Â
The project is expected to be finished by March 2025.
