Introduction to the EU Digital Services Act (+ Specialist Certificate)

This 16-hour executive online course provides a detailed legal and policy-focused introduction to the EU Digital Services Act, its core obligations, enforcement architecture, and implications for digital services providers, regulators, and users.

Overview

The Introduction to the EU Digital Services Act executive course explores the legal and policy foundations of the EU Digital Services Act and provides participants with an in-depth understanding of the key concepts, obligations, and enforcement mechanisms established by the regulation. It combines 16 hours of live seminars with additional pre-recorded lectures from Dr Husovec's online course, the DSA Specialist Masterclass, to which the participants are granted access for two months.

The course examines the DSA’s impact on platforms, business users, regulators, and rights holders, and identifies how responsibility, accountability and competition intersect in the platform economy. Through academic and practitioner-led lectures, case analysis and practical models, the course equips participants with the knowledge required to interpret obligations, identify risks and support compliance in their professional context.

Participants include professionals from national regulatory authorities, technology companies, law firms, funding agencies, and civil society organisations.

The participants can decide to take an online exam at the end of the course to earn a ‘DSA Specialist Certificate’. The course and the certificate aim to increase the career prospects of participants. The test takes the form of a multiple-choice exam, covering all the areas of the EU Digital Services Act.

"An excellent course with very rich content and extensive resources, well structured, delivered with clarity exceeding my expectations in every aspect and keeping me engaged throughout. The instructor’s expertise and genuine passion for the subject made the learning experience both informative and enjoyable. I feel privileged to have attended this excellent course and will wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject"
— Ioulia G., lawyer

Aims

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Apply and critically assess the EU Digital Services Act as the leading trust and safety regulation for digital services
• Understand the main provisions of the EU Digital Services Act through a set of hypotheticals from daily practice
• Discuss practical strategies for compliance with DSA’s content moderation rules and other due diligence obligations

Target audience

• Practitioners, in-house lawyers, and civil servants across the world who work on the trust and safety regulation of digital services, including content moderation, and want to prepare for the DSA compliance work
• Professionals and students across the world who wish to gain in-depth knowledge of the key DSA concepts to boost their career prospects

Course content

Topics

• The DSA’s scope, components, and broader regulatory context
• The DSA’s liability chapter (liability exemptions, orders and injunctions)
• The DSA’s due diligence obligations chapter (content moderation, fair design practices, transparency rules, and risk management obligations)
• The DSA’s enforcement chapter (competences, public enforcement, private enforcement)

Teaching materials

The participants will be given a PDF handbook, along with a mix of articles, book excerpts, practice questions, case summaries, and other legal documents. The participants are also encouraged to obtain access to Dr Husovec’s latest book, The Principles of the Digital Services Act, for further comprehensive reading, or use his online archive of videos.

Academic staff

Course convenor

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  Dr Martin Husovec is an Associate Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is an expert in platform regulation. Since the adoption of the Digital Services Act, Martin has been training professionals and civil servants from regulatory agencies across Europe. His book, The Principles of Digital Services Act (Oxford University Press, August 2024) is among the leading publications on the DSA. Martin has filed a number of amicus curiae briefs or third-party interventions before the European Court of Human Rights in key cases dealing with digital freedom of expression. He has also represented NGOs that intervened in digital technology cases to support the public interest before the Court of Justice of the European Union (Apple v Commission T-1080/23, Zalando v Commission T-348/23, Technius v Commission T-134/24). Martin is a founder of the Platform Regulation Academy, an organisation dedicated to independent education about platform regulation. Martin’s work has been repeatedly cited by Advocate Generals at the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Professional services staff

Course manager

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  Amanda Tinnams is the Short Course Manager at LSE Law School, bringing over two decades of experience managing short course programs. Amanda has successfully overseen courses offered on-campus, online and internationally. She is committed to creating impactful learning experiences that combine academic excellence with practical application, supporting professionals and organisations worldwide.

Course schedule and FAQs