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The European Union has accused Meta and TikTok of breaching the bloc’s landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), placing both tech giants at risk of substantial fines.
In a statement on Friday, October 24, the European Commission said Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, along with TikTok, had violated several provisions of the DSA — which requires major online platforms to curb illegal content, ensure transparency, and promote fair competition. This marks the first time Meta has been formally accused of breaking the regulation, an allegation the company strongly denies.
According to the Commission, both companies failed to provide researchers with adequate access to public data — a key requirement intended to help assess the societal impact of digital platforms, including how minors 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 remains “committed to transparency” but argued that reconciling the DSA’s requirements with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has proven difficult. “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 used deceptive design features — known as “dark patterns” — in their “Notice and Action” mechanisms, which may confuse or discourage users from contesting moderation outcomes.
“The DSA requires platforms to clearly explain their content-moderation decisions, which Facebook and Instagram have not done,” the Commission stated.
Meta rejected the allegations, insisting it has already updated its systems to comply with the DSA. “We disagree with any suggestion that we have breached the DSA,” the company said in a statement. “Since the DSA came into force, we’ve introduced changes to our content reporting options, appeals process, and data access tools across the EU, and we’re confident these meet legal requirements.”
The EU’s findings come amid renewed transatlantic tensions, as former U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised the DSA as an attack on American tech companies and threatened tariffs in retaliation. The Commission, however, said enforcement would continue regardless of political pressure.
Meta and TikTok will now have the opportunity to review the EU’s evidence and propose remedies to address the alleged breaches. If regulators are not satisfied with their responses, the companies could face significant fines per violation and per platform.
Defending the law, EU digital spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the DSA was designed to protect, not restrict, free speech. “When accused of censorship, we show that the DSA does the opposite — it protects free expression and gives EU citizens a way to challenge unilateral moderation decisions by Big Tech,” he said.
Both Meta and TikTok are already under separate EU investigations into whether their platforms are doing enough to limit addictive design features that affect younger users.
