Distribution and platforms: Can we ship through apps and platforms?

The Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) sets the EU-level platform framework relevant to gambling advertising distribution: Article 26 requires that each advertisement be identifiable with its sponsor and prohibits targeting based on profiling using special-category personal data, and Article 28(2) separately prohibits profiling-based ad targeting where the platform is aware with reasonable certainty that the recipient is a minor. Unlicensed gambling offers can constitute illegal content under the DSA's Article 3(h) definition, triggering notice-and-action obligations under Article 16. The Court of Justice's judgment in C-421/24 (16 July 2026) clarifies that an online video-hosting platform remains within the scope of the E-Commerce Directive even where hosted videos carry gambling advertising, since the Directive's gambling exclusion covers the gambling activity itself rather than an intermediary platform; however, the judgment also indicates the platform can lose the Article 14 hosting safe harbour where it has entered a commercial revenue-sharing partnership with the channel operator and reviews the channel's content, theme or metadata. EEA incorporation of the DSA is not confirmed as at 5 October 2026.