Unpacking the EU Digital Reforms Package to Find Out More About the DSA, DMA and the AI Act

The EU has been passing new legislation at a considerable rate as part of its EU Digital Reforms Package, the aim of which is to guide and shape EU digital policy and provide greater online safety and accountability in EU member states.

There’s the new Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates online platforms, ensuring their accountability for the content they host, and the Digital Marketing Act (DMA), which aims to prevent large tech companies from abusing their market power. The significance of both is obvious. Then there is the AI Act, which is still being debated, but which, like the GDPR, foresees the need for human oversight of significant decisions made by AI.

Each EU member state will pass complementary legislation to enforce the EU Digital Reforms Package at a local level, and some will even set up independent regulators. However, the role of the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) and the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act (OSMRA) will be particularly important, as they will oversee the compliance of leading tech companies that have their EU headquarters in Ireland, including Google, Meta and X.