EU Reaches Preliminary Conclusion on Meta and TikTok's Violation of the Digital Services Act

The European Union (EU) has reached a preliminary conclusion that Meta, the parent company of social networking services Facebook and Instagram, as well as ByteDance, the operator of TikTok, have failed to comply with their obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to guarantee data access rights.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, announced on October 24 (local time) the results of its preliminary investigation into Facebook, Instagram, and the Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok regarding the DSA.

The Commission stated, "Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok may have complicated the procedures for researchers to access public data," adding, "Researchers can use public data to investigate issues such as the impact of content glorifying violence on children." This means that Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have violated the DSA's transparency obligations by failing to guarantee data access rights to their platforms. Additionally, the Commission pointed out that Meta's system for reporting illegal content also did not comply with DSA regulations.

The EU's DSA is a law introduced to prevent the spread of online misinformation and harmful or illegal products or content, with the aim of protecting minors, among other objectives. Meta and TikTok, having been notified of the preliminary investigation results, must either raise objections or take corrective actions. However, if the Commission determines that such corrective actions are insufficient, it may finalize the preliminary findings and impose fines of up to 6% of the companies' global annual revenue.