Why compliance matters more than ever — and how to keep up in 2025
Online businesses are subject to more regulatory requirements than ever before. Government bodies and industry-specific regulatory agencies around the world are rapidly enacting laws related to data privacy, consumer safety, content moderation, age verification, and more, forcing companies to juggle a maze of conflicting policies and legal mandates.
Figuring out which requirements apply to your company can be tedious, but we’re here to help. Persona’s 2025 regulation guide for online platforms and marketplaces breaks down key laws like the INFORM Consumers Act, DAC7, the Digital Services Act (DSA), KOSPA, and the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) — and explains what they mean for industries such as e-commerce and peer-to-peer marketplaces, gig and sharing economy platforms, and social media and online gaming companies. Plus, it includes practical tips for staying compliant.
Before we give you a glimpse into the guide, let’s review the importance of prioritizing compliance.
3 reasons to brush up on compliance regulations
Developing an effective compliance strategy isn’t just a good idea in today’s business landscape — it’s a necessity. Here are three reasons why:
1. Regulations are everywhere, and they’re complicated
Keeping up with your company’s compliance obligations, not to mention figuring out how to meet them, is non-stop, ever-evolving work. New laws aimed at regulating business practices and protecting consumers are constantly being introduced.
For example, between 2010 and 2019, 62 new countries enacted laws focused on data privacy — more than in any previous decade — and another 17 countries issued similar laws from 2021 to 2023.
And beyond the sheer volume of regulations, businesses must navigate regional and industry-specific differences. Plus, issuing bodies often amend old laws, changing the application thresholds or adding new reporting criteria.
To complicate things further, businesses must comply with the laws governing their customers — no matter where they’re headquartered. This could mean organizations with global customer bases are actually subject to hundreds of distinct regulations, each with unique requirements and obligations.
2. Maintaining compliance helps reduce fraud
As technology evolves, so do the tactics used to exploit it. The rise in online fraud — ranging from synthetic ID fraud to refund fraud and AI-based face spoofs — has prompted a wave of new regulations aimed at protecting digital ecosystems.
Many of these laws are intentionally designed to combat fraud. For example, the INFORM Consumers Act targets fraudulent activity in online marketplaces by increasing transparency around third-party sellers. Others, like the EU’s DAC7, indirectly curb fraud by requiring companies to collect and report personal and business information.
In practice, meeting compliance standards often means implementing fraud-reducing systems — whether that’s collecting seller details, adding identity verification, or deploying Know Your Customer (KYC) checks. By aligning with regulatory requirements, companies not only meet legal obligations but also strengthen their defenses against fraud.
3. Noncompliance is costly
Ignoring compliance requirements — or creating sloppy strategies for following them — can create widespread challenges across your organization. At a basic level, noncompliance means dealing with legal consequences. Think: fines, penalties, or forced company shutdowns depending on the law, your company’s infraction, and the issuing body.
However, the most severe consequences of noncompliance are losing customers and damaging your reputation. When you don’t follow compliance guidelines, not only do you expose your company to more potential fraud, but you could also jeopardize your customers’ data and privacy.
That’s because many laws are written with consumer safety in mind, protecting individuals from deceptive data-sharing practices or giving them more control over their personally identifiable information (PII). The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) in the US, for example, requires online platforms to avoid collecting or disclosing minors’ PII for targeted advertising purposes. Many states also have their own consumer data protection laws that require companies to give consumers the ability to access, alter, or delete their personal data.
Bottom line: Not complying with regulations designed to protect your customers doesn’t just cost you money — it also puts customer security at risk and can erode trust that’s hard to win back.
Key points covered in Persona’s 2025 regulation guide
In our guide, we dig into key regulations for ecommerce companies and P2P marketplaces, gig economy and sharing platforms, and social media and online gaming companies.
The guide also reviews a handful of data privacy laws — and state privacy laws in the US — that apply to businesses in industries across the board.
For every piece of legislation, you’ll find:
A simple explanation of the law
A list of which types of companies it applies to
Requirements for compliance
Consequences of noncompliance
Tips for staying compliant with Persona
Ready to get started? Download the guide now.
Stay compliant with Persona
Persona simplifies and strengthens your compliance strategy at the same time. With Persona’s configurable identity platform, you can:
Adapt to shifting compliance regulations: Implement tools and processes that cover your compliance bases and give you flexibility to scale or evolve when you need to.
Prevent fraud more easily: Use Persona’s integrated KYC-KYB approach to verify individuals and businesses and detect large-scale fraud rings.
Keep your customers and users safe: Speed up onboarding and make identity checks as seamless as possible.
Explore all Persona’s products or reach out for a custom demo.
