The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to present the liability regime of online platforms for illegal content online as established by the E-Commerce Directive. The thesis presents new players in the online digital market that emerged since the adoption of the e-Commerce Directive, such as social networks and online marketplaces. This is followed by a presentation of the main reasons for the need to adopt new legislation that would respond to the modern societal challenges of the internet. In addition to illegal content, other important online issues related to the functioning of online platforms, such as the negative consequences of recommender systems and the creation of closed information environments, are presented. As important providers of intermediary services, online search engines are also discussed together with the specific regulatory challenges their services pose. This is followed by the presentation of the Digital Services Act proposal with its main legislative solutions. There are also some questions that the Digital Services Act will not answer and remain open, such as the responsibility of online platforms for hyperlinks. At the end of my thesis, I present my view of the state-of-play of the online environment and my forecasts for future developments. In particular, I analyse whether the Digital Services Act will constitute the appropriate legislative tool to address the challenges of today’s online economy.
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