The DSA one year on

A practitioner’s view of the DSA

I began work on the DSA at TikTok in the summer of 2022 when I was asked to join the wider Trust & Safety working group. At that stage, the legal teams had already subjected the draft text to rigorous analysis, and Trusty & Safety were working through what the implementation of the DSA would mean in concrete terms in our reporting flow, notifications and appeals systems. 

In late 2022, I was tasked with managing the implementation of the DSA’s content moderation obligations for Trust & Safety, not knowing then that as a VLOP we would need to be operational for the 25th of August 2023. This summer will mark both one year since the DSA launch for TikTok, and two years since I began to work on the DSA. 

To mark this milestone, we will release a short series of articles on the DSA, not from a legal or political point of view but from that of a Trust & Safety practitioner. I’ll share my perspective on what aspects of the DSA provide the greatest value for citizens, where it helps platforms, but also what obligations are particularly onerous. 

I’ll share some opinions on where the DSA could perhaps be refined and improved for platforms and citizens alike. Of course I will also give credit where credit is due, and highlight what I consider to be its greatest achievements.

Liam Melia is the Managing Director of Pelidum Trust & Safety.

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