The Digital Services Act harmonises the rules applicable to intermediary services in the internal market, with the aim of ensuring a safe, predictable and trustworthy online environment, by countering the spread of illegal content online and addressing the risks to society that the spread of disinformation or other content may pose, and in which fundamental rights are effectively protected and innovation is facilitated.

The Digital Services Act applies to providers of information society services, i.e. any service which is normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by electronic means and at the individual request of a recipient. In particular, the DSA applies to providers of intermediary services, consisting of services known as ‘mere conduit’, ‘caching’ and ‘hosting’.

Categories of intermediary services:

• a ‘mere conduit’ service, consisting of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, or the provision of access to a communication network;
• a ‘caching’ service, consisting of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, involving the automatic, intermediate and temporary storage of that information, performed for the sole purpose of making more efficient the information's onward transmission to other recipients upon their request;
• a ‘hosting’ service, consisting of the storage of information provided by, and at the request of, a recipient of the service;

Online platforms: A subcategory of hosting that not only stores but also distributes information publicly (e.g. social networks, online marketplaces, app stores).