Personal Data Processing of Online Platforms’ and Search Engines’ Users: The case of the EU Digital Services Act

Online platforms and online search engines have become some of the most important personal data processors in the world as a result of their growing importance in the digital economy and our daily lives. From a legal standing this phenomenon raises questions on how to the protect personal data of their users without encroaching disproportionally on the freedoms of online platforms and other users. Legal systems are addressing this issue differently. In the European Union (EU) the Digital Services Act (DSA) has been approved to assure a fundamental rights’-based regulation of online platforms, where therefore the protection of personal data plays an important role.