EU Accuses Meta and TikTok of Digital Services Act Violations
The European Commission has formally charged Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, along with TikTok, with violating the Digital Services Act (DSA), potentially exposing them to billions in fines for transparency failures.
Key Findings Against Tech Giants
The Commission’s primary concern involves researcher data access. Under DSA rules, platforms must provide “adequate access” to public data for studying societal impacts, including effects on user mental health and exposure to harmful content.
Investigators found that Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok created “burdensome procedures and tools” that often leave researchers with “partial or unreliable data,” hampering legitimate studies about platform safety.
Additional Charges Against Meta
Meta faces extra allegations beyond data access issues. The Commission preliminarily found both Facebook and Instagram failed to:
- Provide simple mechanisms for reporting illegal content
- Allow effective challenges to content moderation decisions
Companies Dispute Findings
Both companies strongly rejected the Commission’s conclusions.
Meta spokesperson Ben Walters stated: “We disagree with any suggestion that we have breached the DSA, and we continue to negotiate with the European Commission on these matters.” He expressed confidence that Meta’s recent changes to reporting options and data tools “match what is required under the law in the EU.”
TikTok emphasized its transparency efforts, noting that “almost 1000 research teams have been given access to data through our Research Tools to date.” The company also highlighted regulatory conflicts, stating that data safeguard requirements “place the DSA and GDPR in direct tension” and urging clarity on compliance reconciliation.
