The European Union has accused Meta and TikTok of violating the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), its landmark online content regulation law, placing both companies at risk of facing substantial fines.
The European Commission announced on Friday, October 24, that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, along with TikTok, had breached several provisions of the DSA, which requires major tech firms to curb illegal content and maintain fair competition in digital markets. This marks the first time Meta has been formally accused of violating the regulation an allegation the company strongly denies.
The Commission said both companies failed to provide researchers with adequate access to public data, a requirement designed to help assess the societal impact of online platforms, including how children are exposed to harmful or misleading content.
“Transparency is not the only issue,” EU regulators said. “Researchers must be able to carry out essential work to ensure accountability and protect users.”
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, responded that it remained “committed to transparency” but argued that complying with both the DSA and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) posed challenges. “If it is not possible to fully comply with both, we urge regulators to provide clarity on how these obligations should be reconciled,” a company spokesperson said.
The Commission also accused Meta of failing to provide user-friendly tools for reporting illegal content or effective systems for appealing moderation decisions. Regulators said Facebook and Instagram were using deceptive design practices, known as “dark patterns”, within their “Notice and Action” mechanisms that could confuse or discourage users from challenging decisions.
“The DSA requires platforms to clearly explain their content-moderation decisions, which Facebook and Instagram have not done,” the Commission said.
Meta rejected the allegations, insisting that it had already updated its systems to comply with the law. “We disagree with any suggestion that we have breached the DSA,” the company said in a statement. “In the European Union, we have introduced changes to our content reporting options, appeals process, and data access tools since the DSA came into force, and we are confident that these solutions meet legal requirements.”
The EU’s findings come amid tensions with the United States, where former President Donald Trump has criticised the DSA as an attack on American technology firms and threatened tariffs in response. The Commission, however, said it would continue enforcing the rules regardless of political pressure.
Meta and TikTok will now have the opportunity to review the EU’s evidence and propose remedies to address regulators’ concerns. If the Commission is not satisfied with their responses, it may impose significant fines per breach and per platform.
Defending the law, EU digital spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the DSA was not designed to suppress speech but to protect it. “When accused of censorship, we prove that the DSA is doing the opposite. It is protecting free speech, allowing citizens in the EU to fight back against unilateral content moderation decisions taken by Big Tech,” he said.
Both Meta and TikTok are already under investigation in separate EU probes, including inquiries into whether they are doing enough to reduce the addictive nature of their platforms for younger users.
