Internet & Online Safety · Finland
Online safety in Finland: the EU Digital Services Act (2026)
Finland shaded by its internet & online safety status
Online safety rules in Finland: comprehensive law, under EU Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065), implemented nationally by the Act on the Supervision of Online Intermediary Services (18/2024); the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) is the national Digital Services Coordinator..
As an EU member state, Finland is governed by the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), fully applicable to all intermediary services since 17 February 2024 and providing a comprehensive horizontal regime for content moderation, illegal-content removal, platform transparency and protection of minors. Finland enacted national implementing legislation (Act 18/2024) the same day, designating Traficom as the Digital Services Coordinator and principal supervisor, with the Consumer Ombudsman and Data Protection Ombudsman handling specific obligations. The system is operational and actively enforced, with authorities receiving roughly 80 complaints in 2024.
The Digital Services Act in Finland
In Finland, online platforms and intermediaries are governed by the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), a directly-applicable regulation covering illegal content, transparency and user protection.
- Framework
- the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065)
- Approach
- notice-and-action on illegal content, transparency reporting, clear terms, and protection of minors
- Applies to
- online intermediaries, hosting services and platforms offering services to users in Finland, wherever established
- Very large platforms
- platforms and search engines with 45M+ EU users face extra systemic-risk audits, overseen by the European Commission
- Maximum fine
- up to 6% of global annual turnover
- Oversight
- the national Digital Services Coordinator, plus the European Commission for very large platforms
The DSA is an EU regulation applied directly in Finland; the national Digital Services Coordinator handles day-to-day supervision.
The Digital Services Act in Finland: FAQ
Yes. As an EU member, Finland is covered by the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065), which applies directly.
Notice-and-action mechanisms for illegal content, transparency reporting, clear terms of service, and measures to protect minors.
The national Digital Services Coordinator, with the European Commission supervising very large online platforms and search engines.
Up to 6% of a provider's global annual turnover for serious breaches.
Key points
The EU DSA applies in full to all intermediary services offered in the EU (including Finland) since 17 February 2024, covering illegal-content handling, complaint mechanisms, transparency of advertising and recommender systems, and protection of minors.
Finland enacted the Act on the Supervision of Online Intermediary Services (18/2024, as amended), in force from 17 February 2024, which establishes supervisory powers (inspections, information requests) and penalty payments up to 6% of global annual turnover for violations.
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) is the national Digital Services Coordinator and principal DSA supervisor; the Consumer Ombudsman and Data Protection Ombudsman supervise specific obligations such as advertising and protection of minors.
Under the DSA's conditional liability exemptions, platforms must act on clearly illegal content, operate notice-and-action and complaint-handling procedures, and provide statements of reasons; users may seek compensation and lodge complaints with supervisory authorities.
The DSA requires platforms accessible to minors to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security; the Data Protection Ombudsman supervises minor protection in Finland. Age verification builds on the EU's privacy-preserving age-verification solution (feature-ready 15 April 2026), with no Finnish-specific mandatory age-gating statute for general platforms yet.
The regime is operational: in 2024 (the DSA's first year) Finnish authorities received nearly 80 complaints, of which 72 went to Traficom, indicating active supervision rather than a paper regime.
Timeline - major decisions & events
Finland's first horizontal cybersecurity law consolidates risk-management, incident-reporting (24h/72h) and supervision duties for essential and important entities, with NCSC-FI within Traficom coordinating. It hardens the security baseline for online and network services underpinning the safety framework.
Traficom ↗One year into DSA enforcement, Traficom and the Ombudsmen reported nearly 80 complaints, mostly about Facebook, Instagram and TikTok removing content or closing accounts. It signaled how Finns are using the new content-moderation redress rights.
Data Protection Ombudsman's Office ↗The Act on the Supervision of Online Intermediary Services (18/2024) entered into force alongside full DSA application, designating Traficom as national coordinator with the Consumer and Data Protection Ombudsmen, establishing notice-and-action, transparency and user-redress rules for platforms.
Finnish Government ↗Finland prepared national rules making the police the competent authority for one-hour removal orders and administrative sanctions, with Traficom handling specific-measure decisions. It introduced binding takedown obligations for terrorist content hosted online.
Ministry of the Interior ↗Finland extended audiovisual rules to video-sharing platforms for the first time, requiring measures to protect minors from harmful content and the public from illegal content and incitement. It brought social/video platforms into the broadcasting-style protection regime.
Finnish Government ↗Ten separate acts, including the CSAM-blocking law, telecoms privacy and broadcasting rules, were merged into one technology-neutral code (later renamed the Act on Electronic Communications Services), extending confidentiality and intermediary obligations and applying extraterritorially to services offered in Finland.
Finlex ↗The law gave the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI/MEKU) authority to classify films, TV and digital games with 7/12/16/18 age limits for content harmful to children's development and to supervise on-demand and online providers, anchoring child-protection content rules.
KAVI (National Audiovisual Institute) ↗After ISPs began voluntary filtering of the National Bureau of Investigation's secret block list, the list was found to include legal sites and the very website criticizing the censorship, fueling lasting debate over secret blocking and overblocking.
Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi) ↗The law authorized the National Bureau of Investigation to maintain a confidential blocklist of foreign child-sexual-abuse-material sites for ISPs to filter, Finland's first internet content-blocking regime (later folded into the Information Society Code).
Wikipedia (Censorship in Finland) ↗Enacted 13 June 2003 (in force 1 January 2004), this technology-neutral law brought press, broadcasting and online/network communications under a single freedom-of-expression and liability framework, the foundation for regulating online content responsibility in Finland.
Finlex ↗Finland - other topics
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