TikTok and Meta breaching the DSA, EU Commission finds

The European Commission preliminarily found that both TikTok and Meta are in violation of the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA) on Friday (24 October).

Both TikTok and Meta platforms breach the DSA's requirement to provide adequate access to their data for researchers, according to the findings, which also report that Facebook and Instagram make it too difficult to report illegal content, and do not have a robust enough system for appealing content-moderation decisions.

"Platforms must empower users, respect their rights, and open their systems to scrutiny. The DSA makes this a duty, not a choice.” said Henna Virkkunen, commission vice-president for tech sovereignty, in a statement.

“We are making sure platforms are accountable for their services, as ensured by EU law, towards users and society,” Virkkunen added.

After these initial findings, the companies now have a chance to defend themselves, and then the commission announces a final decision, which could include fines or required changes. 

The commission began looking into both TikTok and Meta for breaching the DSA in 2024. 

Along with investigation, the commission has already announced multiple preliminary findings for DSA breaches by large tech platforms, including against X and Temu. 

Jan Penfrat, from the European Digital Rights group, said the initial verdicts were a positive step, provided they lead to final decisions. 

But he pointed out there is still no final decision in the case against X, which began in 2023.

In January 2025, the commission announced that it had requested additional documents from the platform before it could make a final ruling.

“This is good news. But only if the commission is now courageous enough to then actually follow up with a final decision and not wait another year until that happens," Penfrat told EUobserver. “Users need to be protected now — and not in a year or two or three from now.” 

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