EU Accuses TikTok and Meta of Violating Transparency Rules Under Landmark Tech Law
The European Commission, which serves as the executive branch of the European Union, announced on Friday that it has preliminarily found Meta and TikTok in breach of key transparency requirements set under the Digital Services Act (DSA) — the EU’s groundbreaking technology regulation.
According to the Commission, the two U.S.-based tech giants failed to provide researchers with sufficient access to public platform data, a move that limits oversight into potential online harms and misinformation trends.
The report also claimed that Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, did not offer users straightforward tools to report illegal content or appeal moderation decisions, both of which are mandatory under the DSA.
The DSA is part of a broader initiative by the EU to curb the influence of Big Tech and enforce stricter accountability measures. Several ongoing investigations are also taking place under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) — another major EU law aimed at ensuring fair competition in digital markets.
A Meta spokesperson stated that the company disagrees with the Commission’s assessment, emphasizing that it has already implemented new systems for reporting content, appealing moderation outcomes, and sharing data with researchers in line with EU legal standards.
TikTok also expressed commitment to transparency and researcher collaboration, noting that nearly 1,000 research teams have already gained access to its data tools. However, the company raised concerns that the EU’s data-sharing demands could conflict with GDPR privacy protections, urging regulators to clarify how both laws should be balanced.
The Commission argued that restrictive data-sharing procedures by social platforms leave researchers with incomplete or unreliable data, which affects their ability to study issues such as the exposure of minors to harmful or illegal content.
If the preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta and TikTok could face fines of up to 6% of their global annual revenue, a potentially significant penalty for both firms.
Earlier this year, Meta was fined €200 million under the Digital Markets Act, while TikTok’s data transfers to China led to a €530 million fine imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission.
