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Under the Digital Services Act platforms are forced to comply with removal requests for content which is deemed in violation of the regulation.

According to the "DSA Transparency Database"[1], approximately 1.2 million pieces of content are removed daily (at least in terms of their visibility inside the EU) because they fall into the category of "Illegal or harmful speech", the reason being "online services are being misused by manipulative algorithmic systems to amplify the spread of disinformation"[2].

Ironically, algorithms are heavily used to perform automated decision-making on the type of content that is being removed. Platforms are subject to heavy fines for not complying (so it's better to remove more stuff than otherwise), and there's no transparency in the process.

What's the content that is actually removed? A couple of people I occasionally watch on YouTube have had their content removed and/or their channel demonetized under the DSA for completely fine content (expressing opinions contrary to the current EU politics), and this is really worrying. Is there any way to get qualitative data about the removals instead of just aggregated? Is there any organization that is working on this?

Anyone else sharing my worries here?

[1] https://transparency.dsa.ec.europa.eu/dashboard

[2] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-services-act-package

Hi HN,

I'm developing an AI-based shopping assistant and I was looking at some feedback on the idea.

Assumption: When somebody needs to buy a high-value item there's usually some research involved in finding the right fit and comparing different products. My idea would be to provide value by simplifying this process.

This is a short video demo of the current state of the tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5KVqcfQpB8 (it's a WIP and there are still some rough edges).

The way the tool works is it asks some questions in order to refine the search, and then evaluates the products based on your answer. After ranking, the products are shown and the requirements are marked as satisfied or not. There's also a Chat with AI feature where you can ask questions about the products and its reviews, if you need extra information.

There are other features I have in mind, like product comparison, but I'm slowing down a bit and looking for some feedback before developing something that nobody wants.

At the moment it's limited to Amazon.com, but the plan would be to extend support for other online retailers (which ones? I'm targeting US market but I'm not sure which would be worth to add, if any).

Do you think it is viable? Is there any value in this or you prefer to just search yourself on Amazon.com (maybe this holds for the HN demographic, but what about "normal" people)? What kind of feature would you like to see?

These are the kind of questions I'm asking myself, so if somebody wants to chime in and give their two cents I'd appreciate it very much.

Thanks!