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After years of light-touch regulation, tech leviathans including Meta, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Google could soon face investigations — and hefty fines — in the European Union if they don’t sufficiently crack down on toxic content.
The European Commission will as soon as Friday have the power to investigate and fine some of the most popular social media and e-commerce platforms up to 6 percent of their global annual revenue if they don’t comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission could also temporarily ban a tech company under exceptional cases.
A total of 19 companies had until late August to comply with the wide-ranging obligations in the EU’s content moderation law. But some digital firms have over time already attracted the Commission’s scrutiny and prompted backlash from NGOs, politicians and the wider public for how they managed their widely used platforms.
Here are some of the tech companies that could be in the European Commission’s sight:
1. X (formerly Twitter)
With over 112 million Europeans — including high-profile politicians, experts and journalists — scouring the platform for news and to exchange ideas, Twitter — now X — had long been in the sights of the Commission as a crucial network.
But self-described “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk put a target on the company’s back with a string of seemingly chaotic and controversial decisions following his purchase of the network in 2022.
In May, the company left the EU’s voluntary charter to fight disinformation after struggling to follow its standards. The move prompted stern condemnation from the highest ranks of the Commission and of EU countries like France.
“You can run but you can’t hide,” said Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who spearheads the Commission directorate enforcing the DSA, reacting to the company’s charter exit.
In a bid to calm concerns, Musk has repeatedly promised to respect the DSA and the company volunteered to have its operations scrutinized in a so-called stress test in July ahead of the fateful compliance deadline. But it remains unclear how X will fare after laying off most of its staff who had specialized in moderating content.
2. Meta: Instagram and Facebook
Brussels was still deep into amending its content rulebook in September 2021 when Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen spoke out about her former company’s repeated dismissals of warnings about unsafe content spreading on the platform and its sister network Instagram.
While Facebook denied the accusations, Haugen advised the European Parliament and Commission on rules to police social media firms’ algorithms, backed by thousands of internal documents.
With about half of Europeans using Instagram and Facebook (257 million and 258 million monthly EU users, respectively), the pair of platforms will likely face strong scrutiny from both watchdogs and researchers amid pressure from children’s rights and consumer groups.
Breton previously singled out Meta for allegedly harming children or insufficiently dealing with misinformation around elections.
Research in June showing Instagram had let a vast network of accounts promoting and purchasing child sexual abuse material operate on its platform prompted the French commissioner to call CEO Mark Zuckerberg to “explain [and] take immediate action.”
But Meta has the resources to hire staff, as well as years of experience engaging with regulators around the world and challenging decisions in courts. The company said it assigned over a thousand employees to prepare for DSA compliance.
3. TikTok
Earlier this year, TikTok faced a wave of government restrictions over fears about the Chinese government could access troves of Western users’ data. Worries about Beijing’s potential influence on the app, which is owned by China-based company ByteDance, also had some lawmakers eager for the DSA to start applying so that regulators and researchers could look into TikTok’s algorithms.
While TikTok refuted allegations, jumping into a charm offensive to allay concerns about its connection to China, the app has remained on the hook for insufficiently tackling harmful content spreading on its platform.
Breton previously slammed the firm’s “unacceptable” practices, noting it takes users only “seconds to access harmful and sometimes even life-threatening content.”
The app has in recent years been on the receiving end of fire from several national consumer and privacy watchdogs, worried about the dangers they say it poses to youths like deadly viral challenges.
Breton said in mid-July that the platform — which has over 134 million EU-based users — needed to “accelerate” its work to be compliant with the DSA in time, following a voluntary stress test. He added that the firm was, however, showing “a serious commitment to the DSA.”
TikTok in early August announced it was respecting some of the DSA obligations, including removing targeted advertising for teenage users, ahead of the deadline. The platform has also been seen as more open to sharing information about its work on moderation.
4. Snapchat
The U.S.-based app known for its disappearing images hasn’t garnered as much public attention as other social media platforms, but its popularity with children and teenagers will likely make it an interesting case for the Commission.
The firm, which counts over 100 million users in the EU, has arguably struggled to keep underage users off its platform and to protect children from sex offenders.
Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager recently warned the company about the social media’s AI chatbot, which is powered by ChatGPT.
“If you’ve seen the recent examples of this AI friend in Snapchat, you’d see that there is, to put it very mildly, room for improvement,” Vestager said in May, stressing that “it seemingly doesn’t take much [tweaking] to get advice on self-damage or sexual practices.”
The British platform regulator Ofcom also recently found that platforms including Snapchat had terms and conditions that were “impenetrable.”
Snapchat went through a voluntary test to prepare for its compliance and said it was ready. The company added that it has created safeguards for its AI chatbot, including programming it to avoid inappropriate and harmful responses.
5. Google: YouTube, Search, Play Store, Google Maps and Shopping
Google is behind many of the world’s most popular platforms, including YouTube, with 417 million EU users, Google Maps (276 million EU users), and the Play Store (285 million EU users). Google Search is also leading the market, with 364 million EU users.
Google will likely face more scrutiny over YouTube, which has previously wrestled to stem the spread of disinformation. The platform has been criticized by some fact-checking organizations for not labeling falsehoods, and YouTube’s algorithm has faced accusations of amplifying violent videos and conspiracy theories, pushing users toward more extreme content.
Google Search and Google Maps’ almost unrivaled power in pushing and ranking information means any potential missteps in handling illegal and harmful content could have large repercussions. Regulators and researchers will also likely keep an eye on how Google uses its artificial intelligence tools, like its chatbot Bard, on its platforms and search engine and whether it promotes discriminatory results.
Involved in many of the EU’s voluntary charters to fight disinformation and online hate speech, Google has been ramping up its DSA preparation, including opening a “transparency center” in mid-August.
6. Amazon and Zalando
The U.S.-based online marketplace and European fashion retailer are challenging the Commission in court: Both companies argue they shouldn’t be designated as very large online platforms — and face the ensuing extra obligations.
Amazon, with its 181 million users in the EU, said it was unfairly singled out compared with other large retailers. But the challenge not only surprised many; it also drew the ire of consumer organizations that have in past years alerted regulators to the illegal and dangerous products available on the platform. It’s has also previously been found making money off counterfeit goods and books promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Amazon said it will be ready to comply with the DSA, while awaiting for the final decisions from the EU General Court in Luxembourg.
Zalando was unlikely to be one of the Commission’s prime targets as a relatively uncontroversial European fashion website, but it said the Commission miscounted its number of users, with a large part of its revenue coming from selling curated products directly to consumers as a retailer. The German business says it has only 31 million European visitors using it as a platform. Zalando said it had “zero risk of illegal content” because of its model, but will roll out necessary changes to be compliant in time for the DSA.
Missing in action?
Several other platforms said they had fewer than 45 million users, meaning they won’t have to assess and mitigate how they’re limiting the spread of harmful content under the DSA.
Spotify hasn’t disclosed its number of EU-based users, and merely said it was not a very large online platform. National audiovisual regulators had previously hoped to use the DSA to ensure the Swedish platform was limiting songs and podcasts sharing potential misinformation.
Porn platforms Pornhub and YouPorn regularly rank as the most visited websites in many European countries — but they declared only 33 million and 7 million digital visitors in the bloc, respectively. The companies are regularly in the crosshairs of regulators and law enforcement around the world for hosting illegal and violent content like rape and child sexual abuse.
Despite boasting over 700 million monthly active users, Telegram, which is regularly used by far-right groups to organize and share hateful content, said its platform side counted only 38.5 million European users.
The Commission has been working since May on designating up to five other unknown very large online platforms. “Discussions between the Commission and several platforms regarding a possible designation are ongoing,” said a Commission spokesperson.
