Platform Responsibility in the Digital Services Act: Constitutionalising, Regulating and Governing Private Ordering

Abstract

This chapter re-contextualises long-standing discussions about the emerge of private ordering online as a result of enhanced platform responsibility in light of a change in perspective brought about by the Digital Services Act. This reform updates online platform regulation in the European Union by emphasising the protection of fundamental rights online and providing a redress to the dystopian effects of private ordering. With a special emphasis on large platforms and the risks they might cause to users‘ rights online, the Digital Services Act has launched a process of constitutionalisation, regulation and institutional governance of private ordering practices that might serve as a bluprint for future reform in other jurisdictions.

Keywords: digital services, DSA, platform responsibility, intermediary liability, Internet governance, EU law, fundamental rights