EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and image removal

17 Feb 2024

Applicable to every intermediary service in the EU

Article 93

6%

Maximum fine as a share of worldwide turnover

Article 52 and 74

45m

Monthly EU users above which a platform is 'very large'

Article 33

What does the DSA cover?

Every intermediary service offered in the EU: mere conduits, caching services, hosting services, online platforms and online search engines, with graduated duties for each. The liability shield for hosting providers (Article 6) is kept from the 2000 e-Commerce Directive: a host is not liable for user content it does not know about, but loses the shield once it has actual knowledge and fails to act expeditiously. The DSA then adds the procedures that create knowledge.

How does notice and action work?

1. Step 1

   Notice (Article 16)

   Any person can flag content they consider illegal through an easy-to-access electronic mechanism. A sufficiently precise and substantiated notice gives the host actual knowledge.

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2. Step 2

   Decision

   The host decides in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner and tells the notifier the outcome and the redress available.

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3. Step 3

   Statement of reasons (Article 17)

   The uploader whose content is removed gets a reasoned explanation, which platforms also submit to the Commission's public transparency database.

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4. Step 4

   Complaint and redress (Articles 20, 21)

   Platforms must run an internal complaint system; certified out-of-court dispute bodies offer a further route.

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5. Step 5

   Trusted flaggers (Article 22)

   Notices from entities certified by a Digital Services Coordinator, such as hotlines for image-based abuse, must be handled with priority.

Who enforces it?

Each member state appoints a Digital Services Coordinator (for example Coimisiun na Mean in Ireland, where many platforms are established). The European Commission supervises very large online platforms and very large online search engines directly, with information requests, formal proceedings and fines. The first formal proceedings, against X, TikTok, Meta, AliExpress and Temu, began in 2023 and 2024; the first non-compliance decision, against X over its blue check and ad repository, came in December 2025.

What does it mean for face search?

The DSA is the EU route for getting a misused photo off the platform that hosts it. A result from a face search engine, whether PimEyes, FaceCheck.ID or FaceSearch, gives the URL; an Article 16 notice to that platform, citing the national law the image breaks (image-based abuse, defamation, data protection), obliges the host to act. Platforms must say what they did and why, which makes silence a breach. Face search engines themselves are intermediary services too: a search engine must publish transparency reports and, if designated very large, assess systemic risks. No face search engine comes near the 45 million user threshold, so the duties are the basic ones.

What is pending or unsettled?

• How quickly 'expeditiously' is for intimate images: the DSA sets no clock; national laws and the platforms' own policies do, and the EU's 2024 Directive on violence against women requires removal mechanisms by June 2027.
• Whether face search engines will be treated as online search engines or hosting services affects which duties apply; no Coordinator has ruled.
• The Commission's 2025 enforcement against X and ongoing proceedings against Meta and TikTok will set the price of non-compliance.