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- What is the European Digital Services Act (DSA)?
- How can I exercise my rights under the DSA?
- I have a different question about the DSA.
What is the European Digital Services Act (DSA)?
The European Digital Services Act (DSA) is a new regulation in the European Union (EU) that regulates certain online services provided to European users. The DSA has different requirements, depending on the size of the company and type of online service. It subjects larger platforms (known as ‘very large online platforms’) to stricter regulations.
Snapchat is currently one of several platforms designated as a ‘very large online platform.’ The DSA requires Snapchat services that host user content to meet certain requirements. Additional requirements apply to Snapchat services that allow users to share their content with the public. You can find out more on the European Commission’s website here.
Our long standing values are aligned with the principles of the European Digital Services Act (DSA), and we were already meeting many of the obligations of the DSA. Fundamentally, we believe regulation is no substitute for businesses doing the right thing and taking responsibility for their products and platforms. That’s why we’ve always taken a safety and privacy by design approach to how we build our platforms and features, and we are committed to being a platform where people can safely connect, express themselves visually, and have fun together.
How can I exercise my rights under the DSA?
We provide users in the EU with certain controls, reporting and redress options and information that meet the requirements of the DSA:
- Content: We provide information on how our content is personalized on Snapchat here. This page also explains how you can opt-out of personalized content recommendations.
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Advertising:
- Minors: We do not serve personalized advertising to user accounts for 13 - 17 year olds. They will still receive ads, but they will be displayed using essential information only, like language settings and age.
- Personalization: Every ad has an option "why am I seeing this ad", which will also give you more details about why that ad was shown. We also provide information on how advertising is personalized here. This page also explains how you can opt-out of personalized advertising.
- Ad Library: Anyone can search our digital library of advertisements shown in the EU and they can see details of paid advertising campaigns such as who paid for the ad, a visual of the creative, campaign length, impressions broken down by EU country, and information about the targeting applied.
- Terms: We have strict community guidelines that we expect everyone to follow when using Snapchat. These prohibit illegal and other harmful content and behavior. Our terms also contain stricter rules on what content is eligible for recommendation to our community, including our content guidelines for recommendation eligibility.
- Reporting: Anyone can report content or accounts on Snapchat that they think violate these guidelines through our in-app or online reporting tools. We explain these tools here.
- Appeal: We offer appeal processes for the decisions we make about whether content or accounts are following our terms. In particular, if you think we have incorrectly locked your account, we explain the ways to appeal here.
- Other redress mechanisms: If you would like to further appeal a decision, you can contact one of the out-of-court dispute settlement bodies that has been certified in accordance with Article 21.3 of the Digital Services Act to help resolve disputes relating to our decision. You may also raise any disputes in accordance with our Terms of Service and where applicable resolve the matter through the relevant courts.
We have appointed DSA compliance officers who are responsible for overseeing our DSA requirements and monitor compliance across Snapchat. You can learn more about our DSA governance and monitoring here.
I have a different question about the DSA.
If you have a question about the DSA that was not answered in this article, please submit it here.